J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. J 



# • 



i 



J7/ t * 






UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ! 



ELEMENTS 



or 



Medium Theology. 



BY REV. J. L. DILLARD, &- 



OF GRANVILLE, TENNESSEE. 



m 



L&*-^. Nashville, Tenn. : 

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY THE 

Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Publication, 

41 Union Street. 

1874. 



BTT1 

.US 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

J. L. DILLAED, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



STEREOTYPED AT THE SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENN. 



PREFACE 



The title of this book is suggestive of both its nature 
and design. To what extent the author has succeeded 
must be determined by the unprejudiced and candid 
reader. 

In the prosecution of the work the author was fully 
aware that he was occupying disputed ground. It has 
long been thought, and indeed declared by many, that 
such medium ground does not exist, and therefore can- 
not be shown. 

Through the whole course of the present work it 
has been a paramount object to exhibit the character 
of Deity in its true and most amiable light ; to vindi- 
cate his jurisprudence against all aspersions, from 
whatever erroneous opinions they may arise ; to show 
that his ways are just and equal ; and to throw all the 
responsibility upon the sinner in regard to his eternal 
destiny. 

The author has made but few references to the writ- 
ings of theologians with whom he agrees or disagrees, 
as lengthy quotations would have enlarged the book 
to double its present size, and would have imposed an 
amount of labor unsuitable either to his taste or time 

(3) 



4 PREFACE. 

of life. He would fain hope that he is not so egotistic 
as to suppose his humble production above criticism. 
So far as truth is concerned, he would exceedingly re- 
gret that there should be airy just ground for criticism; 
in minor matters, he will feel but little solicitude. He 
most sincerely hopes and prays that nothing written 
in this book may be construed into a spirit of unkind- 
ness or a want of Christian charity. 



CONTENTS. 



PAET I.— EXISTENCE OF GOD. 

PAGE 

Belief in the Existence of God Universal 9 

Sources of Evidence besides Common Consent of Man- 
kind 10 

Does the Light of Nature Afford all Necessary Knowl- 
edge Concerning God? 12 

Nature Teaches Nothing Antagonistic to the Teach- 
ings of the Bible 13 

Does the Light of Nature Teach us All that is Nec- 
essary to our Happiness? 16 

May we Learn from the Book of Nature any other 

of God's Attributes? 18 

Amount of Knowledge Derived from the Light of 

Nature concerning the Supreme Creator 20 

Does Nature Teach also the Goodness of God? 20 

The Divine Perfections Designated as God's Moral At- 
tributes 23 

The Justice of God 23 

Is Mercy an Essential Attribute of Deity? 25 

Evidence in Proof of the Unity of the Godhead 27 

Trinity of the Godhead 29 

Christ's Method of Teaching the Knowledge of God.... 33 

God is a Spirit 35 

God is a Father 42 

(5) 



6 CONTENTS. 

PAET II.— NECESSITY AND TEUTH OF DIYINE 
EEVELATION. 

PAGE 

A Farther Eevelation than what has been Made in 
the Volume of Nature 55 



PAET III.— THE PEOVIDENCE OF GOD 
GENEEAL AND SPECIAL. 



The General Providence oe God 76 

The Special Providence oe God 80 



PAET IV.— THE PEEE AGENCY OF MAN. 
Man a Moral Free Agent 94 



PAET V. — FOEEKNOWLEDGE AND DECEEES 
OF GOD. 

The Foreknowledge oe God « 105 

The Decrees oe God 106 



PAET VI.— MAN APPOINTED TO A NEW STATE 
OF TEIAL. 

The Power op Choice in Man 123 

The Fall of Man 125 



CONTENTS. 7 

PAET YI.— (Continued.) 

PAGE 

Kemedy for Man's Sin 130 

Character of Christ 132 

Christ as Man 133 

Christ God as well as Man 136 

The Atonement by Christ... 150 

The Atonement — Its Value 153 

Calvinistic View of the Atonement 161 

Atonement of Christ General 182 

Benefits of the Atonement 213 

Covenant of Grace 217 

Christ a Prophet 223 

Christ a Priest 228 

Christ a King 230 

Eepentance and Faith 232 

Faith the Condition of Saltation 240 

Of Justification 242 

Kegeneration and Adoption 252 

Of Sanctification 261 

Of Good Works 267 

Final Victory of all True Christians 273 

Medium Ground 298 



PAET TIL— THE OFFICES OF THE HOLY 

SPIEIT. 

Their Connection with Human Eedemption 305 



PAET VIII.— THE CHUECH OF CHEIST. 
Its True Character 344 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAET YIIL— (Continued.) 

PAGE 

The Gospel Ministry and its Divine Appointment 365 

Baptism and the Lord's-supper 382 

Infant Church-membership 402 

Mode op Baptism 415 

Cause of Bigotry and Exclusiveness 435 



PAET IX.-/THE END OF THE WOELD. 

How Shall it Be? 451 

The Besurrection 462 

All Men to be Baised Up 464 

Final Judgment 466 



PAET X.— MISCELLANEOUS. 

Church Music 475 

Geology and the Bible 483 

Church Discipline 494 



ELEMENTS 

OF 



MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 



PART L— EXISTENCE OF GOD. 



Belief in the Existence of God Universal. 

MEN of all ages and of all nations seem to 
agree, with common consent, to the great 
radical truth that there is a God, a great first 
Cause of all things. This conviction appears to 
be interwoven with their very existence, and ex- 
emplifies itself in a stronger or weaker light in 
different ages and nations, in proportion as they 
have improved or neglected the talent committed 
to their trust. With some the light has become 
very much obscured, so that at times we are almost 
ready to conclude that it had entirely vanished. 
Navigators of the high seas, and tourists upon the 
continent of Africa, report some tribes who seem 
1* (9) 



10 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

to possess no ideas of a supreme presiding Power; 
but this may be accounted for upon the ground of 
their temporary stay amongst them and their total 
unacquaintance with their language and customs. 
A more intimate knowledge of these might have 
led to a different conclusion; and we are induced 
to conclude that however debased and degraded 
by vice and superstition, and though dwelling in 
the shadow of death, yet there are some scattered 
rays of light (though feeble they may be) and 
some traces of God's handwriting in their hearts. 
And thus God has " not left himself without wit- 
ness, in that he did good and gave them rain from 
heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts 
with food and gladness." Hence, it is not reason- 
able to suppose that not to be true which has re- 
ceived the concurrent testimony of mankind at 
large of all nations and all ages of the world. 

Sources of Evidence besides Common Consent of 
Mankind. 

The evidence springs from two sources— nature 
and revelation. Both of these are the offspring 
of the same Divine Parent. God is the author of 
nature as well as of divine revelation; and since 
both have God, the fountain of wisdom and truth, 
for their author, we expect the most perfect agree- 
ment and harmony in their evidence. In this we 
are not disappointed, for both of these witnesses 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 11 

bear the most indubitable testimony to the exist- 
ence of God. When we look abroad upon the 
widespread volume of nature, we are met upon 
every hand with testimony to this great primary 
fundamental truth: "The heavens declare the 
glory of God, and the firmament showeth his 
handiwork." The elephant and the insect, the 
mote in the sunbeam and the gold that glitters in 
the mine, the noiseless vapor and the rushing hur- 
ricane, the gentle zephyr and the roaring wind, 
the pattering rain and the storm of hail, the star 
twinkling in the heavens and the mellow fire of 
the glow-worm, the ignis-fatuus and the lightning's 
flash, the countless worlds above and the world 
below, all proclaim there is a God. Wherever we 
turn our eyes, we have an idea of time and space. 
Actual time and actual space are inseparably con- 
nected with things that did not once exist, and 
therefore had a beginning. Now, as actual time 
and space belong exclusively to things that did 
not once exist, or to things that are finite, such 
things must be dependent for their existence upon 
some infinite antecedent force or power, as the 
great first Cause; and this great first Cause is 
God. To say that the physical and intellectual 
universe, or that matter and mind, are self-created 
is palpably absurd, and simply ridiculous. Again, 
when we contemplate the heavens above and the 
earth upon which we dwell, and our own wonderful 



12 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

structure, we are met with evidences of manifest 
design. Is there design exemplified in the con- 
struction of the sun-dial, the clock, the steam-ship ? 
No less is there design exhibited in all the objects 
of our contemplation, so far as those objects are 
understood. Man himself is a world in miniature, 
consisting of mind and matter in mystic union. 
He has eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to handle, 
and feet to walk, with an exquisite adaptation to 
his whole physical organism, and all controlled 
and directed by the governing mind. In man, 
around him, above him, below him, he is struck 
with manifestations of design; and if design, then 
there is a designer, and that designer is God. 

Does the Light of Nature Afford all Neces- 
sary Knowledge Concerning God? 
It might possibly have done so had not a foul 
hand swept over and dimmed some of the fair 
pages of the volume of nature, and our intellectual 
vision become clouded with ignorance by reason 
of sin ; although, the light of nature may go far 
in instructing us in the knowledge of Deity, es- 
pecially under the emancipating power and invig- 
orating influence of the "surer word of prophecy" 
and the "light that shineth in a dark place" — for 
it must be conceded by all that although the Holy 
Scriptures were never designed to teach men nat- 
ural science, yet, since the "Sun of righteousness" 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 13 

has arisen "that lighteth every man that cometh 
into the world," the student of nature goes forth 
to his studies with his mind in a measure emanci- 
pated from moral ignorance and debasing super- 
stition, and with bolder wing can take loftier flights 
into the heavens, and, descending to earth, can dig 
deeper into the hidden mines of knowledge con- 
cerning the great Architect of the universe. Not 
that this light that lighteth every man proves 
effectual to all in their personal salvation — no — for 
the "light shineth upon the darkness, and the 
darkness comprehendeth it not;" but still, it is 
reasonable to conclude that under its genial influ- 
ence the minds of men, in a measure freed from 
the bonds of superstition and the shackles of big- 
otry, are made capable of a wider scope and of 
more vigorous excursions. We freely admit that 
the honest student who sits down at the feet of 
Dame Nature may learn many valuable lessons of 
wisdom and knowledge concerning nature's God, 
but not all that is desirable, or that is indispensa- 
ble to our happiness. 

Nature Teaches Nothing Antagonistic to the 
Teachings of the Bible. 

Although the light of nature does not teach us 
all the indispensable knowledge of God, yet what 
it does teach is not antagonistic to the teachings 
of the Scriptures, but in perfect harmony with 



14 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

them. It is true that men in all ages, by reason 
of their depraved natures, have been opposed to 
the Bible, and not a few have employed all their 
skill and talents to disprove its credibility; and 
to this end they have invoked the developments 
of natural science, and allege that these develop- 
ments prove, beyond a doubt, the falsity of the 
Scriptures. But these supposed developments of 
science are by no means always reliable; for how 
often has it happened among philosophers that the 
doctrines taught as developments of the natural 
sciences, received in one age and relied upon as 
true, have been exploded by the teachings of phi- 
losophers of the age succeeding? We cheerfully 
grant that many of the conclusions deduced from 
the natural sciences are correct; but it must, at 
the same time, be admitted that there are many 
errors mixed up with what is true. This alloy of 
false philosophy may after awhile, under the test 
of enlightened criticism, and from farther devel- 
opments, be separated from the pure gold. These 
errors are not hard to account for. The most 
laborious and scientific minds have never as yet 
been able to penetrate but a little way into the 
crust, whilst the center and all between lie in un- 
pierced darkness. Speculation must now supply 
the place of actual research and discovery, and 
adding to this the erroneous conclusions from false 
premises to which the greatest minds are liable 



EXISTENCE OP GOD. 15 

(for none are infallible), we may from this stand- 
point safely conclude that some of the so-called 
doctrines of natural science, which are now by 
the opposers of divine revelation wielded as weap- 
ons against our Christian system, will after awhile 
be found to be but chaff, to be winnowed away 
from the wheat. Nature and divine revelation 
are God's two witnesses; they stand side by side, 
and the most perfect harmony pervades their tes- 
timony. Both of these witnesses have been ex- 
amined by men of the highest order of talent and 
of the deepest research, honestly desiring to arrive 
at the knowledge of the truth, whilst others less 
honest have, with all their ingenuity and skill, 
cross-examined, hoping that one of these witnesses 
might be found to contradict the other, or that 
revelation might be shown to contradict itself. 
The class of men last mentioned have signally 
failed, while the former class have settled down 
under the fullest and deepest conviction that these 
witnesses perfectly agree, and mutually strengthen 
and confirm each other's testimony. Hence, the 
student of the Bible has little to fear from the 
pretended and boasted antagonisms between the 
results of scientific investigations and the Bible; 
and if any seeming contradictions should at any 
time arise between them, let him attribute them 
to erroneous conclusions based upon mere specula- 
tion, instead of the real teachings of science; let 



16 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

him rest securely in the citadel of divine revela- 
tion, one jot or tittle of which shall never fail; 
let him also rejoice in all true developments, the 
results of scientific research, being confident that 
there never has been, nor by possibility can be, 
any conflict between such developments and the 
facts of the divine writings. 

Does the Light of Nature Teach us All that 
is Necessary to our Happiness? 

It is admitted, from what has already been said, 
that the existence of God is taught in the volume 
of nature; and from the same source we may 
learn some of the attributes of his nature. 

Throughout the visible universe we discover the 
most unmistakable evidence of the displays of 
omnipotent power in the creation and preservation 
of all things. This work we are bound to attrib- 
ute to the great first Cause, who inhabits his own 
eternity, unconfined by actual time and space, 
which are inseparable from created, finite beings. 
This great first Cause — God Eternal — by a pure 
force within himself, power omnipotent, brought 
at his bidding all things exterior of himself into 
existence, whether physical or spiritual, men or 
angels, thrones or dominions, principalities or 
powers, things in heaven or things in earth — all 
were created by him. Hence, from this stand- 
point, we discover that God, the creator, must 



EXISTENCE OP GOD. 17 

possess within himself power omnipotent, as de- 
clared by the Apostle Paul: "For the invisible 
things of him from the creation of the world are 
clearly seen, being understood by the things that 
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." 
But the apostle here speaks in the plural — he says 
the "things of him," from which we may infer 
that something else may be known of God, from 
"the things that are made," besides his eternal 
power; and, accordingly, do we not behold, with 
equal clearness, manifestations of an Intelligence 
possessed of infinite wisdom? For what but in- 
finite wisdom could have laid the plan of universal 
creation, from the smallest insects, even such as are 
not visible to the unaided eye, up to the loftiest 
angels dwelling in the glories of heaven — from an 
atom of earth up to the unnumbered millions of 
worlds that float in space and revolve around one 
common center; and when we reflect upon the 
exquisite harmony pervading the whole, are we 
not constrained to exclaim, in the language of 
Israel's king, "In wisdom thou hast founded them 
all"? This universal harmony reigning in crea- 
tion's wide domain has, so far as is known to mor- 
tals, but one disturbing cause, and that is sin. 
This may retard in some measure, for a season, 
the full development of this mundane world; but 
the same infinite wisdom that drew the plan of 
creation's frame-work is no less visible in the 



18 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

device of means for the entire eradication of this 
disturbing element ; hence " We, according to his 
promise, look for new heavens and a new earth 
wherein dwelleth righteousness." And when this 
glorious consummation is realized, "the morning 
stars " may again " sing together, and all the sons 
of God shout for joy," and earth and heaven hold 
an eternal jubilee. Thus, from the foregoing con- 
siderations, we are taught in the volume of nature 
not only the omnipotent power of the great Cre- 
ator, but also his infinite wisdom. 

May We Learn prom the Book of Nature any 
other of God's Attributes? 

We might no doubt come to the knowledge of 
other perfections of the divine nature, but for the 
fact, as one observes, that "Nature is an obelisk 
whose hieroglyphic, or picture-writing, has been 
passed over by a rough hand. Much of it has 
been marred ; some so illegible that it is impossi- 
ble to decipher and read it correctly, and some 
not at all." 

We may, perhaps, from the light of nature, dis- 
cover some traces of God's ubiquity or omnipres- 
ence ; as, under one view, it would seem reasona- 
ble that a universe so inconceivably vast, and of 
so complicated a character, is constantly in need 
of the superintendence of a being everywhere 
present at the same time. Otherwise, how could 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 19 

the regularity and order of creation be main- 
tained ? We might conclude that the continual 
presence of him who first attuned to music the 
rolling spheres, and whose hand supplied the 
wants of every living creature in all his vast do- 
minions, is indispensably necessary still, as the 
great presiding, active agent, to uphold, direct, 
supply, and govern all. Indeed, it would seem 
that if we discard the doctrine of the divine omni- 
presence from the light of nature, that we must 
also give up the doctrine of an active, infinite in- 
telligence, or of a personal Godhead, since the 
doctrine of the infinity of the Godhead contains 
that of his ubiquity or omnipresence. 

But after all that is said, "the foolish hearts of 
men are prone to be darkened through the vanity 
of their minds," so that they are disposed to con- 
sider God as such an "one as themselves," giving 
him a local habitation, as did the most enlightened 
pagans ; for it is well known that they assigned 
to Jupiter, the father of all their gods, the island 
of Crete as the place of his birth and education — 
Neptune in ocean, and Pluto in hell. Still, it 
may be granted that, under an enlightened view 
of the teachings of nature, may be deduced a 
knowledge of Deity's omnipresence. The same 
may be said of his omniscience. For surely he 
who created all things, giving to each part, from 
the greatest to the most minute, the nicest adap- 



20 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

tation to its destined end, and who formed all 
these parts, with the most perfect order, into one 
harmonious whole, must be all-seeing, or omnis- 
cient, as well as omnipresent. And from all we 
have said, we may fairly conclude that the God 
of nature is also unchangeable. For if God is in- 
finite in the unity of his nature, so he must be 
infinite in all the qualities or perfections of his 
nature ; and as immutability is one of his perfec- 
tions, he is therefore subject to no change. " I 
am the Lord; I change not." 

Amount of Knowledge Derived from the Light of 
Nature concerning the Supreme Creator. 

The sum of knowledge concerning God, ob- 
tained by a careful study of the volume of nature, 
consists, first, of his eternal Godhead and omnipo- 
tence ; second, his infinite wisdom ; third, his om- 
nipresence; fourth, his omniscience; fifth, his 
immutability; sixth, his self-existence or inde- 
pendence. These may be termed his natural 
perfections. 

Does Nature Teach also the Goodness of God? 

Much has been said and written upon this sub- 
ject. On the one hand, we have daily and hourly 
manifestations of benefits and blessings which we 
are bound to acknowledge as the gifts of his hands. 
We have seed-time and harvest, the alternation 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 21 

of day and night, genial sunshine and fruitful 
showers, indeed unnumbered things in every de- 
partment of nature — -in the animal, vegetable, and 
mineral kingdoms, stand ready to meet the wants 
and minister to the comfort and happiness of man. 
The many objects around us so well calculated to 
afford us pleasure through the medium of our 
bodily senses, and thousands of other manifesta- 
tions, seem well calculated to convince us of tne 
boundless goodness of the great Parent of all. 
But on the other hand, if we have seed-time, we 
sometimes fail of harvest, and whole districts are 
cursed with famine. If we have genial suns, we 
have biting and destructive frosts; if we have 
fructifying showers, we have brazen skies, refusing 
moisture, or roaring tempests with their sweep of 
destruction. In a word, the history of men's lives 
seems to be an exhibition of elements of opposi- 
tion ; pain confronts pleasure, disappointment suc- 
cess, pestiferous vapors surcharged with noxious 
effluvia rise up against the healthful breeze, the 
destructive bolt against the purifying lightning- 
flash, the fire that warms us consumes our prop- 
erty, sweet has its corresponding bitter, the rose 
its thorn, sickness stands hard by health, and 
death stares life in the face until life submits to 
death and man is swept from the stage. What 
shall we say to these things? Heathens, whose 
minds are shrouded in darkness, in the absence 



22 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

of the light of revelation, will say, as they have 
said, " There are two coexistent principles, or 
powers, the one good, dispensing happiness to 
mortals, the other malevolent, inflicting misery. 
Both have been held as objects of worship; and 
from a desire to propitiate the favor of the former, 
or deprecate the wrath of the latter, has probably 
sprung the cruel and revolting practice of human 
sacrifices. 

But if, from the volume of nature, we are una- 
ble to learn the goodness of God to an extent suf- 
ficient to warrant an unshaken confidence and 
trust in him, divine revelation, coming forth with 
its "surer word of prophecy" and brighter light, 
solves the problem and dispels all doubt. Here- 
by we are informed that "God is good to all," and 
that " his goodness endureth forever." We are 
herein also taught that, if there are evils in the 
world attending this life, they are occasioned by 
sin, and that our beneficent Creator takes no 
pleasure in sin or its consequent calamities. This 
is most clearly evinced in the means he has insti- 
tuted, in the economy of grace, for the final ex- 
tirpation of both. If the light of nature has 
grown dim in regard to any of the attributes of 
Deity, a knowledge of which would be essential to 
our happiness, the clearer light revealed in the 
Scriptures shines forth and satisfies the anxious 
and inquiring mind. 



existence of god. 23 

The Divine Perfections Designated as God's 
Moral Attributes. 

These are justice, goodness, and truth. Those 
perfections of the divine nature, termed natural, 
are such as are supposed to be taught by the light 
of nature without the immediate aid of revelation. 
Those that are called moral, are such as are not 
thus taught, but are revealed only in the Script- 
ures. 

The Justice of God. 

By the justice of God, we understand that 
quality of his nature which disposes him to give 
to all their dues, or to observe in the administra- 
tion of his government the strictest regard to 
equity in the distribution of rewards and punish- 
ments. This attribute of Deity is not clearly 
made known to us in the book of nature; for, 
although we may find in men a disposition to 
act justly, in the absence of the light of revela- 
tion, yet we also find a disposition to the con- 
trary. It is contended by those who profess to 
take, in matters of religion, the light of nature 
as their only guide, that inasmuch as men find 
in themselves a disposition to carry into effect 
the principles of justice, that they are thereby 
warranted to attribute this quality to Deity ; but 
upon the other hand, we find mankind, in all ages, 
full of theft, robbery, oppression, and injustice. 



24 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Now, since mankind find these opposing elements 
woven together in the very web of their moral 
nature, which of these dispositions, or qualities, 
we ask, will they attribute to the Author of their 
being ? To show the pertinency of this question, 
we need only advert to what a great portion of 
the pagan world has done upon this subject. 
Even in the palmiest days of Greece and Rome, 
they endowed their gods with all the debasing 
propensities and passions of their own depraved 
and sinful nature, and made them altogether such 
as themselves, and to them, as such, they paid 
their devotions. 

From these considerations it is quite manifest 
that the light of nature is insufficient in itself to 
illumine our minds and afford us satisfactory 
knowledge of the moral character of God. But 
if we are at a loss satisfactorily to determine as 
to the moral nature of God, from a study of the 
volume of nature, the Book of divine inspiration, 
with its superior light, dispels the doubt and 
solves the problem. " Is God unjust ? " God 
forbid. " The Judge of all the earth will do right." 
The same, or similar considerations, might be pre- 
sented in regard to truth : "As God is true ; " 
"Just and true are the ways of the King of 
saints." Here is the testimony of the inspired 
record : " Let God be true and every man a liar." 

The attributes goodness, justice, and truth, in 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 25 

their aggregate constitute the Deity's holiness, 
and make up the rule which directs and governs 
the divine conduct in the entire administration of 
his laws in every department of his rational king- 
dom. He cannot but reign in righteousness. "He 
cannot deny himself." 

From what we have advanced, we think it plain 
that, for a satisfactory knowledge of the moral 
attributes of Deity, we are entirely dependent 
upon the divine Scriptures. These are a lamp to 
our feet and a light to our pathway. Were this 
light extinguished, our world would be shrouded 
in thick moral darkness. The steps of mortals 
would be uncertain — ignorant of any definite good 
to which they would be tending. But since we 
are assured by the infallible testimony of the in- 
spired word that the supreme Governor of the 
universe is infinitely just, good, and true, and 
therefore infinitely holy, and that by consequence 
he takes delight in the happiness of his creatures, 
we have in him a sure foundation, an eternal rock 
upon which to build our faith, our hope, our ever- 
lasting trust. 

Is Mercy an Essential Attribute of Deity ? 

We do not so consider it. It is the outgoing 
of goodness toward offenders or the undeserving. 
It is closely allied to compassion, if it is not iden- 
tical with it. They both spring from the same 

2 



26 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

source, and embrace the same objects. Hence 
the apostle says, quoting the words of God spoken 
to Moses, " Therefore I will have mercy on whom 
I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on 
whom I will have compassion." Here, mercy and 
compassion are used to convey to the mind the 
same idea, and the repetition of the idea is de- 
signed to make a deeper impression, while the 
change of verbiage is for the sake of variety. 

It cannot be said that God is merciful to up- 
right, holy angels, or that he was merciful to a 
holy Adam, because neither holy angels nor a 
holy Adam were the proper objects which it em- 
braces; but when man became a transgressor, and 
fell into a state of moral ruin, that moment he be- 
came a fit object of mercy or compassion. And 
accordingly, we find in his lost and helpless condi- 
tion the outflowing of the infinite goodness of 
God toward him. This exercise or outflowing of 
goodness is mercy, because its object was guilty 
and undeserving. 

We suppose it will be conceded by all that the 
declarative glory of God is displayed to his intel- 
ligent creation in the manifestations of the essen- 
tial attributes of his nature, and that such mani- 
festations are necessary in order to his glory. 
Now, then, if mercy is an essential attribute of 
God's moral nature, and has as its sole object the 
guilty and undeserving, it will follow as a se- 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 27 

quence that, for the glory of God, it was necessary 
that sin and guilt should be brought into God's 
moral government, that mercy, as one of his es- 
sential attributes, might make its manifestation. 
Hence, adopting the idea that mercy is one of the 
essential attributes of the divine nature, and that 
it is necessary for the glory of God that this at- 
tribute be displayed, it makes the glory of God 
dependent upon the existence of sin, and sin nec- 
essary for the glory of God. This, it will be said, 
is bad theology ; but bad as it is, it has by some 
been adopted. The error, we presume, lies in the 
incorrectness of the premise — namely, that mercy 
is an essential perfection of the divine nature — 
from which we are unavoidably conducted to the 
above erroneous conclusion. But setting aside 
the proposition that mercy is an essential attribute 
of God, and giving it the foregoing definition, as 
the offspring of God's infinite goodness, embracing 
the helpless and the undeserving, the whole diffi- 
culty vanishes. Indeed, to make sin a necessity 
in the divine government in order to the display 
of any of Deity's perfections, instead of unveiling 
and increasing his glory, would cast over it a dark 
shadow — a profound gloom. 

Evidence in Proof of the Unity of the Godhead. 

Much might be said upon this question — more 
than would accord with the proposed plan of this 



28 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

"work. The right exercise of reason should teach 
us that there cannot, by possibility, be more than 
one supreme and independent Being, and that 
this being is God. The idea of two infinities, if, 
indeed, such an idea can be formed, is simply 
suicidal or self-destructive. Two or any number 
of Unities may exist, and infinite space is not full. 
These Unities may exist comprehended in the 
infinite; but two infinities cannot exist in the 
same infinite space any more than two material 
bodies or spiritual bodies can occupy the same 
actual or finite space at the same time. Neither 
can there be more than one supreme Governor of 
the universe. The same may be said of two or 
more supremes that we have said of two infinities — 
that, if such an idea can be formed, it amounts to 
a mere abnegation, and is self-destructive. Many 
subordinates may be comprehended within the 
dominions of one, two, or more coordinates. And 
many subordinates or coordinates may be compre- 
hended within the dominions of a supreme ; but 
two supremes can no more occupy and reign in 
the same dominion, at the same time, than two or 
more subordinates can occupy the same actual 
space at one and the same time. Hence it is not 
possible that there can be more than one infinite, 
supreme Jehovah. This doctrine is taught at 
large in the sacred Scriptures. In Deut. vi. 4, 
God says by Moses, " Hear, Israel : the Lord 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 29 

our God is one Lord ;" 1 Cor. viii. 6, " To us there 
is but one God ; " 1 Tim. ii. 5, " There is one God 
and one mediator;" Eph. iv. 6, "One God and 
Father of all;" and 1 Cor. viii. 4, "There is none 
other God but one." 

Trinity of the Godhead. 

By the trinity of God, we are to understand 
that there are three persons in one God — the 
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost — and that 
these three are one — one in all the essential attri- 
butes of the divine nature — one in essence, in 
power, and glory. This great truth is taught only 
in divine revelation, although some faint traces of 
it are supposed to be seen, mixed up with some 
of the superstitious religions of the heathens, upon 
which, however, we place but little reliance. It 
is a point entirely beyond the dominions of natu- 
ral science, and is simply an object of faith. 
Natural science has nothing to do with it ; yet it 
cannot discard it any more than it can discard 
many of the facts revealed in the volume of nature. 

If there is an inscrutable mystery involved in 
the trinity of the Godhead, so there is also in the 
being of a God — self-existent, independent, the 
great first Cause — a doctrine involving a mystery 
as far beyond the province of human reason as 
is the doctrine of the trinity of the Godhead. If, 
indeed, the professed devotees of natural religion 



30 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

would discard every thing they meet with in di- 
vine revelation because it is mysterious and be- 
yond their comprehension, then, to be consistent, 
they are bound to discard also the religion of nat- 
ure, which would leave the world without any 
religion at all. If the doctrine of an eternally 
self-existent, independent, first Cause, though it 
involves a mystery, deep, profound, is admitted 
by them to be taught in the religion of nature, let 
not vain men object to the doctrines of divine 
revelation because the feeble light of their reason 
cannot comprehend them. But let them first go 
and solve all the mysteries of the book of nature 
— the attraction of gravity, of the magnet, of elec- 
tricity — yea, their own complex being, consisting 
of soul, body, and spirit, constituting the person- 
ality of man. We say, Let them first elucidate 
all the mysteries of nature before they assume 
the prerogative of ignoring the mysteries of the 
Bible. But every mystery is not an absurdity. 
The natural magnet exhibits the phenomenon of 
attraction at one pole and repulsion at the other. 
This is a fact of nature; but this fact contains 
within itself a mystery so deeply hidden that the 
eye of philosophy has never unveiled it — perhaps 
never can. But the fact in the case must not be 
denied because it is a mystery. So in regard to 
the doctrine of the trinity of the Godhead ; though 
mysterious, it is not absurd. And if we find in 



EXISTENCE OP GOD. 31 

man a triplicate in his one personality, and, a 
duality of forces put forth by the same magnet, 
should we longer wonder that the supreme God- 
head should exist trinity in unity? This, though 
a mystery of a far higher order, is yet but a mys- 
tery. To affirm that the soul and the body are 
one and the same thing, would be an absurdity; 
so to affirm that the three persons of the Godhead 
are one person, would also be an absurdity. But 
the doctrine of three persons in one God is not 
absurd, though it is highly mysterious. 

The doctrine of a triune God of the universe is 
abundantly taught in the divine Scriptures. The 
plurality of persons in the Godhead is indicated 
anterior to the creation of man. " Let us make 
man in our own image," was the divine proposition. 
The personality of the Father is not disputed by 
any. The personality of the Son is fully taught 
in the Christian Scriptures. He is expressly 
called a person, 2 Cor. ii. 10, " Forgave I it in the 
person of Christ." The attributes, works, and 
worship ascribed to God, are also ascribed to the 
Son, which proves his Deity; but that he is a 
distinct person from the Father is shown by his 
being " from of old, from everlasting ; " and Paul, 
quoting the language of the Psalmist, says that 
God, in addressing the Son, saith, " Thy throne, 
God, is forever and ever;" also, he is said to 
be begotten, and sent on the mission of human 



32 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

redemption, which things are never said of the 
Father. 

The distinct personality and Deity of the Holy 
Ghost is also clearly taught in the sacred Records. 
He took a conspicuous part in the creation. The 
Spirit moved upon the face of the waters while 
yet a deep of profound darkness, and prepared it 
for the separation of light from the darkness. 
"And God said, Let there be light ; and there was 
light." Perhaps, too, we are to understand that 
it was by his inspiration that man became a living 
soul ; at any rate, when man is created anew, he 
is born of the Spirit. He is said to "proceed from 
the Father," and to be sent by the Son, to bring 
to the minds of his disciples all things which he 
had spoken; also to "reprove the world of sin;" 
ail which prove his distinct personality. His 
equality in the Godhead is established by the 
ascription to him of the essential attributes of 
God (as is the case in relation to the Son), and 
from the declaration of Peter with regard to Ana- 
nias and Sapphira, that had "lied to the Holy 
Ghost," "had lied to God." Also the association 
of the Holy Ghost with the Father and the Son, 
in the administration of Christian baptism. And, 
according to the Apostle John, he is one of the 
three that bare record in heaven, and that "these 
three are one." We are apprised that some have 
denied the genuineness of this passage. But it is 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 33 

more reasonable that those who deny the doctrine 
of the trinity should wish to suppress it, than that 
those who believe it should wish to introduce it, 
if it is not genuine, since, aside from this text, 
the trinity of God is clearly taught in the Script- 
ures. The doctrine of the divine trinity is de- 
ducible only from divine revelation. In support 
of it, no reliance whatever is to be placed upon 
any supposed traces of it, interwoven with some 
of the false religions of the heathen. It is a point 
entirely beyond the range of natural science : it is 
simply an object of faith. 

Christ's Method of Teaching the Knowledge of 
God. 

Heretofore mankind, for the knowledge of God 
and his attributes, had been left dependent, for its 
attainment, upon the first rays of divine revela- 
tion, and upon inductions from the light of nature. 
The inspired word not only confirms the knowl- 
edge derived from the light of nature — it does 
more — it extends that knowledge, and carries it 
to completeness. The revelation God made to 
man, before Christ came, is contained in the He- 
brew Scriptures. This was made, not suddenly, 
but gradually, as man was able to bear or under- 
stand it. This is in perfect keeping with the 
divine proceedings in every department of his 

dominions, so far as his proceedings are known. 

2* 



34 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

The germ is not yet the "full corn in the ear," 
nor the acorn the stately oak ; the man of perfect 
stature was once the babe in its mother's arms, 
and from twilight, like the opening bud, has been 
unfolded the full bloom of meridian glory. The 
working of God, in the department of divine reve- 
lation, is also in harmony with man's every-day 
life. The child of two summers is first taught the 
names of things he sees in the little circle around 
him, then something of their uses, and then their 
nature; and by so much as he learns their nature, 
he becomes a little philosopher. The little boy, 
when first entering the school-room, is not placed 
at the problems of mathematics. These would 
confound him ; but he is set down at the low be- 
ginning — the first letter of the alphabet. And 
the master, adapting his instructions to him as 
he can comprehend them, by degrees conducts 
him up to the higher branches of literary knowl- 
edge. So with regard to God's revelations to 
man. After the fall, the very beginning of light 
and hope was contained in the revealed phrase: 
"The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's 
head." To this first lesson man was set. It was 
the alphabet of revealed religion. It underlaid all 
future moral development, and contained in em- 
bryo all spiritual knowledge. As man advanced 
from the first lesson to a state of readiness for 
another ; another was given him, and so on through 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 35 

all succeeding dispensations down to Christ, the 
great expounder of the past and teacher of the 
future. He was the light of the world ; he spake 
as never man before had spoken. 

His method of teaching mankind the knowledge 
of God was new. It was so different from what 
human reason might have conjectured, that both 
reason and conjecture were completely baffled. 
And yet, without the semblance of effort, and in 
the briefest manner, he laid down two propo- 
sitions which set forth the character of God in a 
more amiable light than had ever been done before. 
First, God is a Spirit. Second, God is a Father. 
In these propositions is embodied all that is need- 
ful for man, in his present state, to know concern- 
ing God ; and from them may be evolved all the 
essential doctrines of religion. Christ said, "God 
is a Spirit," and Paul says, "whom no man hath 
seen nor can see, and whom no man can approach 
unto." This at once establishes the spiritual nat- 
ure of God ; also that he is not confined within 
any boundaries of space. If he was, he might be 
approached in that direction; but God is unap- 
proachable because he fills immensity, and is eve- 
rywhere, and is as unapproachable as if he was 
nowhere. There is only one w T ay in which God 
can be approached, and that is in spirit. That is 
what James meant when he said, " Draw nigh to 
God and he will draw nigh to you." God, a spirit, 



36 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

can be approached only by spirit. We are said 
to approach him by prayer — but what is prayer 
but the outgoings of the sincere desires of the 
soul? Mere words are only talk — not prayer. 
There are two ways in which God is unapproach- 
able. First, physically. In this sense, we cannot 
properly be said to approach the atmosphere. 
True, physically, we live, and move, and have our 
being in it ; and yet we cannot be said to approach 
it, because it surrounds us, and is, during life, 
ever present with us. Here, mark the difference 
between God a spirit, and the gods of idolatry. 
The Egyptian can approach his apis, his crocodile, 
or his cat ; the Hindoo, his Ganges, his jugger- 
naut ; the Catholic, his images and crucifix ; the 
devotee at the toilet, her picture in the mirror; 
or the worshiper of mammon, his fields, and farms, 
and heaps of gold : all these are approached in a 
physical sense. In this sense, no man can ap- 
proach to God. Second. We cannot approach 
the immanent or intrinsic presence of God, since 
" He only hath [inherent] immortality dwelling 
in the light." The blazing splendors of infinite 
majesty could not be borne by finite man; and 
this probably was the chief meaning of Paul. 
The scriptural sense in which God, a spirit, may 
be approached, is a spiritual one ; it is by heart- 
penitence, faith and soul desires, gratitude, and 
love. In this way the spirit of man may hold 



EXISTENCE OF. GOD. 37 

intercommunion with God, a spirit — invisible and 
unapproachable in any other than this only way, 
and that made possible to men through the Son, 
the way to the Father. Again, as God is a pure 
spirit, and is everywhere present, he holds the 
universe under his immediate and constant inspec- 
tion. Here is his omniscience. 

On a few occasions, Christ alluded to the om- 
nipotent power of God; for instance, when he ad- 
monished all to fear him which hath power to kill 
both soul and body and cast them into hell-fire. 
And when the Sadducees, desiring to entrap him 
in his language, came with a knotty question (as 
they supposed) in regard to the resurrection, he 
said to them, " Ye do err, not knowing the Script- 
ures and the power of God ; for in the resurrection 
they neither marry nor are given in marriage ; but 
are as the angels of God in heaven." And again, 
"With God all things are possible." He had 
another method of teaching the character of God 
besides that of his sayings. He claimed to be 
the only "re vela tor of the Father, when he said, 
"No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and 
he to whom the Son shall reveal him." His other 
method of making known to men the character of 
God was by his works. " I am in the Father and 
the Father in me." " I and my Father are one." 
The same doctrine is repeated by Paul, " The 
fullness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily." 



38 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

And he said himself, "All power in heaven and 
in earth " was in his hands. This great fact was 
attested by his works. His power in heaven was 
such that he could have called legions of angels to 
put to flight the powers of darkness. Moses and 
Elias came thence at his mandate, and appeared 
with him at his transfiguration. Every miracle 
he performed preached the omnipotence of God. 
The sick restored to health, the lame healed, the 
blind with restored sight, the deaf to their hear- 
ing, lepers cleansed, the dead raised up to life — 
these, with all that were cured of lunacy, and 
freed from vexing devils, and the thousands fed 
with a few loaves and fishes, all stand up as mon- 
uments of God's omnipotence. And this is not 
all — the withered fig-tree, the winds, and the seas, 
and the fishes of the sea, became great preachers 
of the almighty power of God. Thus Christ 
made known to men the power of God by his 
works. 

He also revealed to men by the same intensely 
impressive method, the infinite wisdom of God. 
Foolishness, indeed, was the w 7 isdom of the world 
in comparison with the wisdom with which he 
spoke and acted. When attacked by his shrewd- 
est and sharpest enemies, with studied and subtle 
questions, the superhuman wisdom of his answers 
was absolutely irresistible. Without any previ- 
ous preparation, and without hesitation, he so con- 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 39 

founded them upon the spot that, silent and 
abashed, they retired from the field. 

One or two instances, out of many, may be 
given. The woman taken in adultery, who, 
by the law of Moses, was subject to be stoned 
to death was brought before him. They said, 
"Master, this woman was taken in adultery, 
and by the law of Moses she shall be stoned 
to death: what sayest thou?" If he said, 
Stone her, he assumed the • authority of a 
judge in civil affairs; if he should say, Set 
her at liberty, the law is sanguinary and 
ought not to be observed, then he would speak 
against Moses, their revered legislator. They 
urge him. Then said he, "Let him that is with- 
out sin cast the first stone." This was a home- 
thrust, directed by infinite wisdom straight to the 
conscience. Overmastered and struck dumb, they 
all, one by one, retired from the contest. Take 
the case, also, of paying tribute to Cesar. " Then 
went the Pharisees and took counsel how they 
might entangle him in his talk. And they sent 
out to him their disciples, with the Herodians, 
saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and 
teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest 
thou for any man, for thou regardest not the per- 
son of men. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest 
thou, Is it lawful to give tribute to Cesar or not?" 
If he shall say, Give it, he is a friend to Cesar, 



40 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

and a foe to Jewish freedom ; if not give it, he 
sets himself up against Cesar. A nice trap, art- 
fully made, well set, and plentifully baited with 
flattery. " But Jesus perceived their wickedness 
and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites ? 
Show me the tribute-money, and they brought 
unto him a penny. And he saith, Whose is this 
image and superscription? They say unto him, 
Cesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render, there- 
fore, unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's, and 
to God the things that are God's. When they 
heard these words they marveled," and left him 
master of the field. What an immeasurable dis- 
tance lies between Christ and his short-sighted 
enemies, when the scene is shifted, and he be- 
comes the questioner! For instance, he asked 
them, "The baptism of John, was it from heaven 
or of men?" If they should say, From heaven, 
he will say, Why, then, did ye not believe him ? 
If, Of men, they feared the people, for the people 
took John for a prophet. And shamefully beaten, 
"they answered, they could not tell." Again, 
w T hen the Pharisees were gathered together, he 
asked them, "What think ye of Christ? whose 
son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. 
He saith unto them, How then doth David in 
spirit call him Lord ? If David then called him 
Lord, how is he his son ? And no man was able 
to answer him a word, neither durst any man 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 41 

from that day forth ask him any more questions." 
When Christ quits the defensive, and takes up the 
aggressive side, he achieves a final victory in this 
mode of warfare. With what divine luster did 
the wisdom of the Godhead, dwelling in Christ, 
shine forth in all his conflicts of mind against 
mind, and spirit against spirit ! 

From the proposition that God is a Spirit, may 
also be evolved the doctrine of the new birth. 
That pure, infinite Spirit, everywhere present, 
must necessarily come in contact with man's im- 
pure, finite spirit, and as there can be no harmony 
between opposites in spirit and moral quality, the 
necessity of a change, in order to harmonize these 
antagonistic natures, is at once indicated * and as 
the pure delights in purifying, and as the in- 
finite, pure Spirit is greater than the impure, 
finite spirit, it is manifest that, if a change of the 
moral quality of the impure spirit is effected, 
it must be done by God, the pure, infinite 
Spirit, who delights to purify, and is ever ready 
for the work, with the concurrent consent of the 
impure, depraved spirits. Thus we have worked 
our way from Christ's doctrine that God is a 
Spirit, round to his teaching, " That which is born 
of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the 
Spirit is spirit;" "Ye must be born again." And 
when this great change is effected, harmony that 
moment springs up between God, the pure, infinite 



42 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Spirit, and the purified finite spirit of man. What 
a glorious change of moral nature and of state! 

From the same proposition, Christ deduced the 
manner in which God must be worshiped. He 
said, " God is a Spirit, and they that worship him 
must worship him in spirit and in truth," for such 
the Father seeketh to worship him. Without pur- 
suing farther the subject-matter involved in the 
proposition that God is a Spirit, we will here in- 
troduce Christ's second proposition, that 

God is a Father. 

Fatherhood is a relationship well understood 
among men. The idea of a father, in the true 
sense of the term, carries with it whatsoever is 
honest, pure, just, lovely, and of good report. To 
call a man a father, who is destitute of the feel- 
ings and natural instincts of a father, would be a 
palpable misnomer. Such a so-called father would 
be an anomaly in the world of humanity; and, if 
capable of shame, would be shamed by the brutes. 
We take first the revelation, then, that God is a 
Father, to mean that God is possessed of the 
properties or attributes of a father, in the true and 
proper sense of the term, only with this difference, 
that by so much as he is higher and more perfect 
than the best of human fathers, are his attributes 
as a divine Father higher and more perfect than 
those of the best of human fathers. 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 43 

When we think of a father, the first quality 
that strikes the mind is that of love of his offspring. 
The human race are the offspring of God. This 
Paul attested in his discourse at Athens, and used 
it as an argument against the worship of idols. 
By connecting love with the character of God as 
a father, we have the key by which to interpret 
a large portion of the Scriptures. "God so loved 
the world that he gave his only begotten Son;" 
" Behold what manner of love the Father hath be- 
stowed upon us ;" "Not that we first loved God, 
but that he first loved us." All these passages, 
and many others, find their true interpretation in 
the great truth revealed by the Son, that God is 
a Father. Christ says, " If ye, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts to your children, how much 
more shall your Heavenly Father give the Spirit 
to them that ask him?" God then is a Father— 
"the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," "the God 
and Father of us all," " the Father of mercies," 
and "Our Father which art in heaven," whose 
name be eternally hallowed. What treasures of 
light, and hope, and joy, are contained in the rev- 
elation that God is a Father! All the moral qual- 
ities and sympathies of a father are aggregated in 
one great principle, and that principle is expressed 
by one word, and that word is love. Hence John 
says, "God is love." Justice, goodness, truth, 
uprightness, forbearance, impartiality, all meet 



44 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

and unite in love. "God is love." His law is 
the law of love. " Love is the fulfilling of the 
law." " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, . . . and thy neighbor as thyself." 
"The end of the commandment is charity (love) 
out of a pure heart." " He that loveth dwelleth 
in God and God in him." And " See that ye love 
one another with a pure heart fervently." What 
concord, what glorious harmony prevails in these 
divine teachings ! and all springs from the great 
doctrine revealed by the Son, that God is a Fath- 
er, and therefore a God of love. "Greater love 
hath no man than that he will lay down his life 
for his friends ; but God commendeth his love to- 
ward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ 
died for us t " There is but one, in the known uni- 
verse, who has measured the length and breadth, 
the height and depth of that love, and that one is 
Jesus Christ. He has stepped it all off, and com- 
pleted its measurement on the cross when he 
cried, "It is finished," and gave up the ghost. 

The revealed fact that God is a Father, at once 
explodes and scatters to the winds the dogma of 
the eternal election to life of a part of the human 
race and reprobation of the rest to eternal death ; 
and more especially, when this election is given a 
range so wide "as to embrace the infantile depart- 
ment of the world. What would you think of a 
human father who would act a similar part ? A 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 45 

father who would discriminate between his infant 
children, before they had done either good or evil, 
and say, This one shall inherit a part of my estate, 
but that shall not have a penny, and so on through 
all his family of children — would not the neigh- 
bors stare and shake their heads ? Ask this 
father his reason for this strange procedure ; he 
gives you none, save only it is his ivill and good 
pleasure to do so, and that he has a right to do 
as he pleases with his own. Would this satisfy 
the very least intelligent man of the neighbor- 
hood ? Far from it. Would such a father rise 
or fall in the estimation of the community? Com- 
mon instinct, concurring with common sense, gives 
the answer. Is God such a father? Justice, 
goodness, impartiality, all, with one consent and 
one voice, reply in the negative. The instincts 
and honor of fatherhood cry out, No. 

Man, as he is, is a father, but he is not "love." 
Place two of his children (suppose them infant 
twins) upon the same plane. They are so alike 
in size, form, and features, that they cannot be 
distinguished the one from the other. Can the 
father of these little ones, without some radical 
defect in his natural fatherly attributes, or in- 
stincts, hate the one and love the other? You say, 
No. Then God is a Father, and " God is love" 
Can God the Father of us all (all his children 
being alike fallen), ere they have done good or 



46 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

evil, love, or elect to life one and hate, or reprobate 
to death, another? The No must be given, and 
from the No there is no appeal. Again: put the 
case thus : Suppose God should summon to ap- 
pear before him the entire infant world. They all 
assemble — they are all equal — all stand upon one 
common level — one is neither better nor worse 
than another — and none of them have done either 
good or evil. Now, not forgetting that God is a 
Father of infinite love and compassion, would it 
be possible for him, as a just, good, compassionate, 
impartial father, to ordain to life eternal a part 
only of these infants, and, passing by the rest, or- 
dain them to suffer his wrath forever? We an- 
swer that it would be morally (if not naturally) 
impossible for God, who "is love" to do so. To 
admit that God has acted such a part with the 
entire race of his creature man, without any fore- 
sight of good works or faith in any of them, or of 
evil works or unbelief of any, shocks common 
sense, shocks not only the instincts and feelings 
of fatherhood, but the common instincts and rea- 
son of even fallen humanity. It represents God 
as being all sovereign, and nothing moral ; or, if 
he possesses moral qualities, he can of his good 
pleasure override and ignore them whenever his 
sovereign will may dictate to do so. Admitting 
that such a God is the God of the Bible, what 
kind of a Father is he? The God who is love 



EXISTENCE OP GOD. 47 

cannot deny himself — he cannot act contrary 
to the nature of the moral qualities of his 
fatherhood. He declares that he has no pleas- 
ure in the death of the wicked; and Peter de- 
clares that God is no respecter of persons. A 
God who can, by a volition of his sovereign will, 
set aside the moral attributes of his nature, and 
eternally ordain millions of his intelligent creatures, 
equal in all respects, a part to eternal life, and the 
rest to eternal death, may be the ideal father of 
eternal election and reprobation, but not the Father 
revealed by the Son, who is the God of love. 
And while the great lamps of eternal truth, that 
God is a Father, and that God is love, standing 
side by side, throw off their divine and broad illu- 
minations upon this dark world, men of rational 
thought can never be satisfied that the ways of 
such a God are unequal, or that he is partial in 
arbitrarily settling unequal destines among his 
created equal offspring. When "whosoever" can 
be sanely interpreted to mean a partial discrimi- 
nation, and the "whole" to mean a part, or when 
the qualities and nature of fathers are reversed so 
that they will give their starving children — to 
some bread and fishes, but to others stones and 
scorpions, then, and not till then, may the world 
be satisfied that God, the Father of us all, has, of 
his own sovereign will and good pleasure, decreed 
unconditionally to give to a part of his intelligent 



48 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

offspring the bread and fishes of eternal election, 
and to the rest the stones and scorpions of eternal 
reprobation. 

We now gladly emerge from these dreary re- 
gions into the genial and life-inspiring light of God 
a Father. Christ revealed this primal truth, not 
only by his words, but also by his works. His 
plan was to approach men at their salient points. 
He extended aid where it was most needed. The 
sick and dying man wanted not bread, but to be 
cured. So Christ cured him. But the five thou- 
sand hungry persons wanted bread. He gave 
them enough, and twelve basketsful over, out of 
a few loaves and little fishes. The blind man by 
the wayside was not just then in a proper mood 
to hear from Christ a set discourse on the doctrine 
of God's Fatherhood. He wanted his sight re- 
stored. Jesus restored his sight. And thus, by 
his works, he told the blind man, the sick man, 
and the hungry multitude that God was a Father, 
full of fatherly tenderness and sympathy, nursing 
the "smoking flax" and propping up his "bruised 
reeds." And so Christ went on making of all his 
mighty works mighty preachers of what he alone 
was able to reveal, that God was a Father; for 
"no man knoweth the Father but the Son and he 
to whom the Son shall reveal him." 

In this twofold method did Christ clearly re- 
veal to men that God is a Father. From this 



EXISTENCE OF GOD. 49 

divine disclosure we hear and see Christ teaching 
the doctrine of God's special providence. Hear 
him: "The very hairs of your head are all num- 
bered." "Not a sparrow falls to the ground with- 
out your Heavenly Father." "If God so clothed 
the grass of the field, will he not clothe you, ye 
of little faith?" "And if ye, being evil, know how 
to give good gifts to your children, how much more 
shall your Heavenly Father give good things to 
them that ask him?" Eternal praise to God for 
this, u hoiv much more." It is worthy of being 
stamped in letters of gold upon the tablet of every 
heart. With immeasurably greater freedom will 
your Heavenly Father bestow the richest possible 
gifts in the universe to them that ask him than a 
tender-hearted human parent will give a piece of 
bread to his hungry child. The heart overwhelmed 
here seeks an outlet. It finds two — the tongue 
and the eye; and while praise employs the tongue, 
the eye overflows with grateful tears. 

But Christ brings to view the providence of God 
when, in sending out his disciples, he instructs 
them to take neither staves, nor scrip, nor purse, 
for their journey. How, then, are they to be sus- 
tained? That is the business of their Heavenly 
Father; it is theirs to look to their duty. This 
required faith and trust. These Christ also taught 
in connection with his teaching of a special provi- 
dence. What did he mean when he said : "Take 
3 



50 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

no thought for the morrow what ye shall eat, or 
drink, or wear." "Your Heavenly Father know- 
eth that ye have need of these things." As 
though he had said : It is possible for you to act 
as if you thought your wants are unknown to 
God, or if known, he may fail to supply them, 
and thus doubting his divine providence, you may 
so burden yourselves as to be weighed down with 
a great load of worldly cares. To obviate all this, 
he made a preacher of the lily. He calls upon 
them to consider this great beauty, and while they 
are considering that it neither toils nor spins, he 
is declaring that "Solomon in all his glory was 
not arrayed like one of these." And now he 
brings out the moral: "If God so clothed the 
grass of the field, shall he not clothe you, 
ye of little faith?" Consider the lily. There 
it stands, a blooming, eloquent preacher of faith 
in God and trust in his providence. Did not the 
called-up fish of the sea, when taken with money in 
its mouth, silently proclaim the providence of God? 
This was an important lesson, teaching the disci- 
ples that in all emergencies they should trustingly 
believe in the care of their Heavenly Father. 
This case shows how poor and penniless were 
Christ and his disciples. In this one work, which 
perhaps has not been over-duly considered, there 
is much valuable instruction. The main point was 
the providence of God. Next in importance was, 



EXISTENCE OP GOD. 51 

according to Peter's answer, that they were not- 
obliged to pay tribute, but rather than give offense, 
they had better pay — better sacrifice something, 
yea, a great deal, than to give grounds for evil re- 
port. But they had no money : what shall they do ? 
God will provide. This is the practical side of the 
doctrine he had just been teaching by the lily: 
"Let the morrow provide for itself." Your Heav- 
enly Father knows what things ye need — and just 
now they need a little tax-money. Peter is sent 
to the sea with a hook — he is successful — he 
catches a fish, and lo! there in its mouth is the 
money. This relief came from a quarter Peter 
never had dreamed of. This is another point in 
the lesson. But how is this? The fish brings no 
more money than is just enough to pay the tribute. 
That was all they needed for to-day. "Let the 
morrow provide for itself." Take no thought (or 
great burden of care) for the future. " Sufficient 
unto the day is the evil thereof." If the Master 
had desired to make his followers rich, there were 
fish in the sea of sufficient size and strength to 
have freighted to the shore from the same mine 
millions of silver — enough to have enriched them 
all. But they were following Christ, and so much 
money would have been a great burden — it would 
have subjected them to too many cares and anxie- 
ties, and would have impeded their progress, and 
perhaps destroyed their usefulness, niches are 



52 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

deceitful, and not to be trusted; especially is it 
dangerous to greatly desire them; for they that 
will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and 
into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown 
men in perdition. All this makes up a great les- 
son to Christians, especially to the ministry. The 
resources of Christ were ample — inexhaustible. 
He dreAV upon earth, and sea, -and sky. He 
taught the doctrine of providence not only by 
the lily and the fish, but also by the fowls 
of the air. " Behold," said he, "the fowls of 
the air; for they^sow not, neither do they reap, 
nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father 
feedeth them. Are ye not much better than 
they?" 

Having attempted a brief analysis of the two gen- 
eral propositions, that God is a Spirit and God is a 
Father, as containing substantially all the knowl- 
edge of God indispensable to the happiness of 
man, and, by consequence, all the radical doctrines 
of religion, we would here remark that Christ's 
twofold method was not only new and striking, 
but displayed the most consummate wisdom and 
discernment. Would he teach them God's attri- 
bute of almighty power? In his words he simply 
declares that God has power to kill the soul as 
well as the body, and cast both into hell together. 
And in his working, which is his other method, 
he brings that power before them, visibly dis- 



EXISTENCE OE GOD. 53 

played, and that in cases of unspeakable benefit to 
those who were the immediate occasions of such 
display; the sick were cured, the lame healed, the 
blind received sight, devils were cast out, and the 
dead were raised. In all such working the power 
of God was as manifest to the mind as a flash of 
lightning is to the eye. And it was thus by meet- 
ing men at the points at which they needed him 
most, he extended his aid, supplied their wants, 
and conferred upon them great blessings, and thus, 
by benefiting their bodies, prepared the way to 
save their souls. Hear the young man blind from 
his birth : " Whether he be a sinner or no, I know 
not; one thing I know, whereas I was blind, I now 
see." This man was now at the saving point, and 
shortly after, we hear him say to Jesus : " Lord, 
I believe, and he worshiped him." The Phari- 
sees cast him out of the synagogue — Christ re- 
ceived and took him into his fold. 

In no character could the God of the universe, 
with whom we have to do, be represented so amia- 
ble and trustworthy as that of a Father, and while 
his pure spirituality absolutely excludes the wor- 
ship of idols, and as God is a Spirit, everywhere 
and at all times present as a Father, it inspires the 
belief that he may, at all times, and under all cir- 
cumstances, be worshiped and trusted. God is 
in one sense the Father of all mankind, because 
he is the creator of all. But in the highest and 



54 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

most endearing sense of the term, is he the Father 
of those who believe in the Son — "For ye are all 
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." 
The children of God are "born again" — "born of 
the Spirit" — "born of God." They are adopted 
into his spiritual family — are the heirs of God, 
and joint-heirs with his son Jesus Christ. He 
knows his children; they bear the seal of his 
image, and, "having this seal, the Lord knoweth 
them that are his." He is their Heavenly Father; 
the Father loves them ; he gave his Son to re- 
deem them ; they have washed their robes white 
in his blood, and "they shall walk with him in 
white." What more can they desire than to have 
God for their Father? This is the great spiritual 
magnet ; and to those who believe on the Son, he 
reveals it in all its spiritual power. But in the 
full and spiritual sense of God's Fatherhood, this 
revelation is not made to the unbelievers. Though 
they are told that God is a Father, they have not 
the Spirit to witness with their spirit that they 
are his children ; and not having the Spirit of his 
Son, they cannot " cry, Abba, Father," and do not 
sustain the same peculiar relation that believers do. 



PART II.— NECESSITY AND TRUTH 
OF DIVINE REVELATION. 



A Farther Revelation than what has been Made 
in the Volume of Nature. 

IT most undoubtedly was necessary that God 
should make a farther revelation; for although, 
as before stated, the volume of nature might, pre- 
vious to the fall, and the moral blindness conse- 
quent upon it, have taught all that was necessary, 
yet, since mankind are now in a fallen and blind 
condition, the state of the case is entirely changed. 
It is evident, we think, that there are many things 
not only necessary, but truly desirable to be 
known, which could not be learned from the book 
of nature. 

It is granted, as before seen, that the student of 
nature learns from the works of creation that there 
is a self-existent Supreme Being, and it might be 
farther conceded that he might also arrive at the 
conclusion that this Supreme Being ought to be 
worshiped. But as to the kind of worship, and 
in what way or manner it should be rendered, he 

is in total darkness. Here the farther revelation 

(55) 



56 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

comes in to his aid, and informs him that prayer 
and praise — the broken heart and contrite spirit — 
is a sacrifice acceptable to God. Again: We find 
in the world thousands of evils, natural and 
moral — earthquakes, famines, wars, pestilences, 
sickness, and death. We find, also, lying, cheat- 
ing, theft, defrauding, oppression, envy, hatred, 
malice, murder, and ruin. But then, in the ab- 
sence of a farther revelation, he is totally at a loss 
as to how this sad and deplorable state of things 
was brought about. Here the farther revelation 
furnishes him with the desired knowledge. He is 
informed that all these evils which he sees and 
feels are the offspring of sin ; that our first pro- 
genitor transgressed against God — rose up in re- 
bellion against his authority — and by this means 
his nature became corrupt, his mind clouded, his 
intellect obtuse, the earth cursed, and himself 
doomed to labor and toil, disappointments, afflic- 
tions, pain, and death ; and that the corruption of 
his moral nature has been, by the law of the rela- 
tion of effects to their causes, transmitted to his 
posterity, with all its direful consequences. Read, 
in the book of Genesis, the account of the fall; 
also, Paul to the Romans : "By one man sin en- 
tered into the world, and death by sin." 

There are also other points of knowledge, of the 
highest and gravest importance, desirable to be 
known, in regard to which the volume of nature 



DIVINE REVELATION. 57 

is profoundly silent; such as, first, the ground 
upon which God can pardon sin and yet maintain 
his justice; second, how man can be purified from 
the corruption of his moral nature and be brought 
into conformity to the nature and will of his Maker, 
and to a cheerful obedience to his authority. The 
immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the 
body, eternal judgment, and the just and equita- 
ble distribution of rewards and punishments — all 
these things, and perhaps others of the greatest 
magnitude, in the absence of the farther revela- 
tion, being untaught by the light of nature, would 
have remained hidden from the eye of the most 
penetrating and diligent student. 

Thus, we clearly discover the infinite wisdom 
and goodness of Deity in the farther revelation 
he has made to the human race, and which is con- 
tained in the sacred Scriptures. This revelation 
clears our sky, meets our moral wants, and satis- 
fies the soul thirsting for knowledge, especially for 
that knowledge which pertains to his reconciliation 
to God and his destiny after death. Truly, "His 
word is a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path." 

We think it is sufficiently apparent that man- 
kind greatly needed a revelation superadded to 
that contained in the volume of nature, and this 
necessity furnishes at least presumptive evidence 
that such revelation would be given. 

What is called a revelation from God, contained 
3* 



58 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

in the Scriptures, is certainly true. We feel assured 
of its truthfulness, because it has the signature 
and bears the impress of its Author. The evi- 
dences of its truth are derived, principally, from 
two sources. For the sake of distinction, they 
are generally called the external and internal evi- 
dences. The external evidences, for the most 
part, arise from the fulfillment of prophecy and 
the performance of miracles. When men profess 
to be teachers sent of God, to reveal truths before 
unknown, it is but* reasonable and natural that 
mankind should require of them a proof of their 
divine mission. The prophets and apostles, as 
well as Christ our Saviour, professed thus to be 
sent of God upon this mission, and were fully en- 
dowed with the gift of prophecy and power to 
work miracles. Now, if the predictions of future 
events uttered by the prophets, in different ages 
of the world, and under circumstances widely dif- 
ferent, of which events they by possibility could 
have no previous knowledge, except by divine in- 
spiration, should be fulfilled to the letter, should 
not this be received and relied upon as indubitable 
testimony of the truth of their divine mission? 
This testimony sustains the claims of the prophets 
to their divine mission, as well as that resulting 
from miracles. The same testimony sealed the 
truth of the mission of Christ and his apostles. 
The predictions of the prophets abound through- 



DIVINE REVELATION. 59 

out the Hebrew scriptures, as well as many of 
their fulfillments : witness the destruction of Nin- 
eveh, the overthrow of the City of Babylon and 
the Babylonian Empire by the Medo-Persians, led 
by Cyrus, the downfall of the Medo-Persians by 
the Grecians, and the subversion of the Grecian 
Empire by the Romans. Besides these, there are 
a great many fulfillments of other prophecies 
chronicled in these scriptures, such as the inva- 
sions of the kingdom of Israel by heathen nations, 
its overthrow, the captivity of the Jews, and their 
return to their own country, and, finally, the ad- 
vent, offices, works, sufferings, death, resurrection, 
and ascension of the glorious Mediator, the fulfill- 
ment of which we have on record in the scriptures 
of the New Testament. Nor were Christ and his 
apostles wanting in testimonials to the truth of 
their heavenly mission. "And Jesus said to the 
disciples of John," sent by him to inquire whether 
he was the one who was to come, or should they 
look for another, " Go and tell John the things ye 
see and hear: the blind receive their sight, the 
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, 
the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel 
preached unto them." And Nicodemus, who came 
to Jesus by night, bore witness to the convincing 
power of his miracles when he said to him, " Thou 
art a teacher come from God, for no man can do 
the miracles that thou doest except God be with 



60 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

him." These miracles of Christ were, with few 
exceptions, performed in open daylight — not be-, 
fore a chosen few of his friends, but in the presence 
of large concourses, consisting mostly of his ene- 
mies; and to these astounding works he often ap- 
pealed, in the presence of his adversaries, as his 
credentials from heaven. And wonderful to relate, 
these miracles were not attempted to be disproved 
by his most inveterate enemies, but, compelled to 
confess the fact, they resorted to the miserable 
subterfuge of attributing the power by which he 
performed them to Beelzebub, the prince of 
devils. 

The apostles also gave plenary evidence of their 
divine mission. They, too, were endowed with 
power from on high to attest their heavenly call- 
ing by similar miracles, and showed by supernat- 
ural signs and wonders that the faith they preached 
"stood not in the wisdom of men, but in the power 
of God." The miracles wrought by the apostles 
were also done in the presence of enemies, who 
wanted not opportunities nor the disposition to 
disprove them had they been false; and how often 
were the churches the apostles had planted ap- 
pealed to, as the very eye-witnesses of these won- 
derful miracles, for the truth of their performance 
among them ? It is altogether incredible that the 
apostles should make such appeals, knowing that 
they were based upon a false assumption which 



DIVINE REVELATION. 61 

they did know, provided no such miracles had been 
wrought among them. 

The limits prescribed to this work forbid our 
entering more at large upon this branch of the 
evidence of the truth of divine revelation, and we 
would point the student in theology to some of 
the authors who have fully examined this subject, 
met the cavils and exposed the fallacy of all the 
pretended and specious arguments brought for- 
ward to disprove the credibility of the truths of 
the Bible. See Newton on the Prophecies, Paley's 
Evidences, Horn's Introduction to Christianity, 
Fletcher's Appeal to Matter-of-fact and Common 
Sense, Watson's Reply to '• Paine, and Nelson's 
Cause and Cure of Infidelity. 

We have now (briefly, indeed) presented some 
of the external evidences of the truth of divine 
revelation, and proceed, in a very summary way, 
to notice some of its internal evidences ; and first, 
it bears the impress of God, its reputed author. 

The moral purity of the Scriptures shows that 
God is their author. The morality therein taught 
and inculcated has no equal. None of the sages 
of antiquity taught as did Moses and the prophets, 
Christ and his apostles. Socrates, Seneca, Aris- 
totle, Plato, and Cicero are all placed far off in the 
background. If they inculcated any thing that 
bore the semblance of scriptural morality, it should 
be attributed to some scattered rays of light ema- 



62 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

nating from the Scriptures, and had reached them 
through the medium of tradition, or to a partial 
acquaintance with the Scriptures themselves. 
They never could rise higher in the scale of mor- 
als than, Love your friends; and the few moral 
precepts they did profess to teach were neutralized 
and rendered inefficient by their admixture with 
impurities and superstitious practices, which were 
allowed and encouraged by the preceptors them- 
selves. 

If God has shed forth the light of his natural 
perfections upon the pages of nature, he has caused 
the transcendent light of both his natural and 
moral attributes to shine upon the pages of divine 
revelation. The teachings of nature and the teach- 
ings of the Bible are in perfect harmony so far as 
nature goes, and where nature ceases to give les- 
sons the Scriptures continue on, leading the honest 
and anxious student in paths hitherto untrodden, 
and into still brighter regions of wisdom and knowl- 
edge. It is from this stand-point he beholds 
"whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever 
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, and 
whatsoever things are of good report." 

The morality of divine revelation is summarily 
comprehended in the Ten Commandments, com- 
monly called the Decalogue. This divine code 
contains, first., our duty to God, and, second, our 



DIVINE REVELATION. 63 

duty to our fellow-men. All we have to do in 
order to obtain an enlightened and impressive view 
of the morals taught in the Bible is to imagine, if 
we can, the widespread misery and ruin which 
would result from the constant and universal vio- 
lation of these ten precepts. Gross idolatry would 
overspread the earth, profanity would dwell upon 
every tongue, the sanctity of the Sabbath would 
be everywhere disregarded, children would show 
no reverence for and yield no obedience to their 
parents; in short, in addition to the preceding, 
murder, adultery, theft, and covetousness would 
deluge the world, and men would destroy one an- 
other from the face of the earth. 

But now, in order to a correct view of the purity 
and conservative power of Bible morality, let us 
fancy that all mankind strictly observe these di- 
vine precepts. Then, of course, the state of the 
world would be precisely the reverse. Our whole 
race would bow in devout worship and adoration 
before the great Creator and Upholder of the uni- 
verse; no tongue would pronounce a word profane; 
the Sabbath would be sanctified as a day of rest, 
emblematic of the rest of heaven; children dutiful 
to their parents; murder no more heard of, but 
peace and good- will everywhere abounding; the 
sanctity of the marriage-bed no more invaded; 
locks arid bars no more needed as security against 
thieves and robbers; and the demon of covetous- 



64 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

ness would no more stalk up and down through 
the earth, seeking whom it might devour. What 
moral purity and grandeur does such a picture 
present ! A world conformed to the law of God ! 
and that law the law of love. Deserts would bud 
and blossom as the rose, solitary places grow glad 
with joy, and the whole earth become vocal with 
songs of praise. But all the laws, precepts, and 
obligations contained in the Bible are resolved into 
two great principles: supreme love to God, and 
love to man. "On these hang all the law and the 
prophets." Thus taught our Saviour, and St. Paul 
says "the end of the commandment is charity out 
of a pure heart," and " love is the fulfilling of the 
law." ' 

From this view of the subject may be deduced 
the sublime and God-like injunction, first uttered 
by the great Teacher of the Christian system, " I 
say unto you, Love your enemies." To love them 
that love you is man-like, but to love them that 
hate you is God-like. 

The Christian system contained in the sacred 
volume inculcates all the duties growing out of 
every relation of life. The governor bears the 
sword not to oppress his subjects, but "for the 
punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of 
them that do well." This clearly sets forth the pre- 
rogative and duty of rulers. The subjects are re- 
quired to render obedience to the civil magistrate 



DIVINE REVELATION. 65 

as holding his authority from God. " The powers 
that be are ordained of God." "Render unto 
Cesar the things that are Cesar's/' is the divine 
injunction. The duties also of the marriage state 
are laid down. The husband is enjoined to love 
his wife, and the wife to reverence and obey her 
husband. 

We also find enjoined the obligations of parents 
and children : " Parents, love your children, and 
be not bitter against them." " Children, obey 
your parents." "Honor thy father and thy 
mother." Nor are the duties of masters and serv- 
ants overlooked. " Masters, give that which is 
just and equal unto your servants." " Servants, 
obey in all things your masters in the flesh." 

The Christian revelation enjoins also the duties 
and kind offices of the social life — such as the for- 
giveness of injuries, forbearance, condescension to 
men of low estate, hospitality, kindness, and char- 
ity. It places its seal of condemnation upon all 
ostentatious parade, foolish pride, selfishness, back- 
biting, tattling, evil-speaking and injustice ; and it 
does not forget even the courtesies and amenities 
of life, which contribute so largely to the happi- 
ness and enjoyment of the social state. 

Now if all these duties and teachings were 
strictly observed, and carried into practice, man- 
kind would be conducted to the culminating point 
of civilization, and of social and moral refinement. 



66 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Who can fail to see the impress of a nature im- 
maculately pure stamped upon the system of mor- 
als taught in the Christian writings ? None hut 
the willfully blind. And although infidels have 
labored hard to set aside the Bible, they have 
always been constrained to pay an unwilling trib- 
ute to the purity of Bible morals. And if this 
purity immeasurably transcends, as it does, that 
of the teachings of all the philosophers and sages 
in all ages of the world, we are forced to the con- 
clusion that this perfect purity finds its source in 
a nature of infinitely higher perfection than that 
which we find in fallen man. 

But again : when we add to these considera- 
tions the fact that the inspired writings afford the 
most powerful incentives to virtue, while at the 
same time they deal out in unmeasured terms their 
denunciations of vice, are we not doubly assured 
that the hand that traced these fair pages of 
Scripture morals was divine ? And have we not 
as good reason to believe that this pure system of 
morals, taught in the Christian Scriptures, is the 
offspring of infinite goodness and wisdom, as we 
have that the created universe, with its endless 
variety symmetrically united in one harmonious 
whole, is the offspring of infinite power and wis- 
dom? If so — and who dare deny it? — it will fol- 
low as a sequence that God is the author of Bible 
morals, and by consequence that the Scriptures 



DIVINE REVELATION. 67 

were divinely inspired, and, therefore, true. If 
it is philosophically true that water, by a natural 
law, seeks its level, so is it morally true that hu- 
man nature also seeks its level ; and if it is natu- 
rally true that water cannot, without physical aid, 
raise itself above its level, so is it morally true 
that human nature, as found to exist, could not, 
without divine aid, rise above its own low level 
up to the pure and sublime heights of Bible 
morality. 

If the teachings of divine revelation are true, 
they could no more be the production of bad men 
than that a pure stream could flow from a corrupt 
fountain; and if false, they could no more be the 
production of good men than that a corrupt stream 
could issue from a pure fountain. Hence it fol- 
lows that the pure teachings of divine revelation 
are the production of good men, and that they 
were what they professed to be — divinely inspired 
— and spoke as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost, and, therefore, what they taught was true. 

Again : it is altogether incredible that the apos- 
tles of Christ would band together to palm off on 
mankind a religion which they themselves knew 
was a cheat, especially when its profession sub- 
jected them to the loss of all things which men 
in this world hold dear — the loss of property, of 
worldly enjoyments, and of reputation ; and more, 
when the very name of Christian was odious, and 



68 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

subjected those who bore it not only to the male- 
dictions of the populace at large — Jews and Gen- 
tiles — but also to bonds, imprisonment, and death. 
The course pursued by the apostles and early 
Christians upon the supposition that they knew 
that the religion of Christ was a cheat, is anoma- 
lous, and stands in direct opposition to the princi- 
ples of human nature, and to all the laws by which 
it is governed. 

Is it alleged by any that the apostles were hon- 
est men, but were themselves deluded ? This is 
also altogether incredible, for they had the testi- 
mony of their natural senses for several years, 
during which period they were eye-witnesses of 
the mighty signs and wonders wrought by their 
divine Master in confirmation of the truth of his 
mission. Could they have been deluded for so 
long a time, when the performance of miracles by 
him was almost of daily occurrence ? Could they 
have been deluded when they looked on and be- 
held, in hundreds of instances, his supernatural 
performances? Water, at his bidding, turns to 
wine ; maniacs are restored to reason, fevers de- 
part, lepers are cleansed, the eyes of the blind are 
opened, and the dead are raised. To admit that 
the apostles could have been deluded under such 
circumstances, would be to admit that no confi- 
dence whatever is to be placed in the testimony 
of our senses, which would put an end to all tes- 



DIVINE REVELATION. 69 

timony, both human and divine ; from all which 
we arrive at the inevitable conclusion that the 
apostles of our Lord were sincere and honest men, 
and that they were not themselves deluded, but 
actually saw and heard the supernatural works 
and wonders which they reported. Without 
shame they took on themselves their Master's 
name — led a life of self-denial, of toil, reproach, 
and suffering, counting all things but loss for the 
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their 
Lord, and many of them meeting death in its 
most appalling forms, sealed with the blood of 
martyrs their testimony to the truth of their mis- 
sion and teaching. And finally, they lived, la- 
bored, suffered, and died, under the fullest and 
deepest conviction of the truth of the doctrines 
they taught, with the happy assurance of a glo- 
rious immortality beyond the grave. 

It is declared in the Scriptures that the " weap- 
ons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty 
through God to the pulling down of strongholds," 
and that "the kingdom of God is not in word, 
but in power." The truth of these declarations 
has been clearly exemplified in the great achieve- 
ments of the gospel. The strongholds of Satan, 
in the hearts of the vilest of sinners, have been 
broken down. The strongholds of Jewish legal- 
ism and deep-rooted prejudices fell before the pow- 
ers of the kingdom of the despised Nazarene. 



70 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

The strongholds of the prince of darkness, of 
pagan superstition and idolatry, were breached 
and demolished with the un carnal weapons of the 
Christian warfare. These weapons, indeed, were 
very simple — the preaching of the cross of one 
Jesus, crucified between two thieves in the days 
of Pontius Pilate ; which Jesus, his disciples 
affirmed, arose from the dead the third day after his 
crucifixion. These weapons of war would have 
proved as inefficient as they were simple, had it 
not been for the fact that they received their 
mightiness and potency through God. And with 
the inspiration of the divine energy alid power of 
the Holy Spirit, what is too hard for them to ac- 
complish ? The whole superstructure of Judaism 
in a short time crumbled to dust under their vig- 
orous assaults. The idolatry and superstition so 
deeply ingrained in the very heart of the pagan 
world, fell before the powers of the kingdom of 
the crucified Jesus. The victories of his cross 
were so rapid and extensive that the temples of 
heathen worship were so deserted that complaint 
was made by Pliny, a Roman Governor, to Cesar, 
that there were but very few that brought offer- 
ings to sacrifice to the gods. Nor did the gospel 
cease its conquests until it could boast of trophies 
in the household or court of Cesar ; and finally, 
Christianity, supplanting paganism, became the 
established religion of the Roman Empire. 



DIVINE REVELATION. 71 

When we consider the means employed simply 
within themselves, apart from any supernatural 
agency, namely — the preaching of the shameful 
cross of a crucified Jesus, and that through his 
name alone was to be obtained the forgiveness of 
sins — together with the character of the first men 
to whom was committed the charge of spreading 
these tidings for the world's conversion, we are 
utterly astonished that any sane mind can come 
to the conclusion that Christianity could have 
been set up at any place other than some obscure 
abode, whose inmates were more suitable subjects 
for a lunatic asylum than for enlightened, civilized 
society. The means employed were, in the light 
of human prudence, the most unlikely to accom- 
plish the proposed end — the conversion of the 
world to the discipleship of Jesus. And who was 
this Jesus ? A man of Jewish extraction — grew 
up to manhood with little notoriety, and, entering 
upon his public career, and assuming the office of 
a teacher, with no pretensions to human learning, 
and thus circumstanced, he set out upon the as- 
tounding enterprise of establishing a new religion, 
and of converting the world. And what were the 
doctrines he taught ? He taught both Jews and 
Gentiles, rich and poor, noble and ignoble, with- 
out exception, that they must repent of their sins 
and believe on him as the Son of God and Saviour 
of the world, or they could not be saved. He 



72 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

taught them also other doctrines directly opposed 
to their prejudices and preconceived opinions, and 
equally distasteful to their carnal appetites and 
propensities. Nor was he — viewed from a human 
stand-point — more fortunate in offering induce- 
ments to gain followers. He informed them that 
they must renounce the world with all its sinful 
pleasures, wealth, power, pride, and popularity; 
that they would, for his sake, be hated by all men; 
that they would be treated as the offscouring of 
all things, and subject themselves to bonds, im- 
prisonment, and death. And, viewed from the 
same stand-point, it would seem that he was not 
more happy in the selection of his first heralds to 
proclaim abroad the terms of discipleship. Con- 
trary to all human policy, he passed by the re- 
ceipts of custom and called tax-gatherers. He 
visited the sea-side, and took fishermen. These 
were simple-minded men, without wealth, power, 
or popularity, and made no pretensions to human 
learning, the consequence of all which was, that, 
as looked upon by the world, he himself, and his 
chosen followers, were not only unpopular, but 
contemptible. This is the light in which the case 
is viewed by infidels, for they will not allow of 
supernatural agency in establishing and spreading 
the cause of Christianity. Taking it, then, as 
they will have it — as a mere human contrivance, 
with its most unpromising machinery — would it 



DIVINE REVELATION. 73 

not be the least likely to succeed, and the most 
impolitic of any scheme that was ever concocted 
in the brain of a half-crazed fanatic? And yet 
this scheme, with every conceivable human prob- 
ability against it, has, in a great measure, com- 
passed the end proposed by its author, and is in 
a fair way to accomplish the whole. What ! Ju- 
daism overturned — the colossal superstructure of 
pagan superstition and idolatry torn down and 
supplanted by the miserable, unseemly scheme of 
this crucified Jesus ? What ! and these stupen- 
dous achievements, won by his cross, in spite of 
all the pride and prejudice of the Pharisee and 
Sanhedrim, and in spite of all the interests of the 
pagan priesthood, the learning, the wealth, the 
eloquence, and power, of Greece and Rome — the 
all-subduing power of the religion of the Man of 
Calvary triumphs and prevails, until it is estab- 
lished by law as the religion of Rome's universal 
empire ! 

Any man who can believe that these mighty 
conquests were gained by this hated and cruci- 
fied Jesus, with his unpopular doctrines and re- 
volting terms of discipleship by him laid down, 
together with the kind of men he chose as his 
standard-bearers, without the intervention of su- 
pernatural agency, is prepared to believe any 
thing. If he wished, he could believe that the 
Father of Waters could be dammed with a straw, or 



74 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

that the ramparts of Gibraltar could be " battered 
down with snow-balls." 

Is -it consistent with laws, either physical, men- 
tal, or moral, that ignorance can battle successfully 
against learning, poverty against wealth, impotence 
against power? When these contradictions are 
reconciled, and these anomalies take place and be- 
come of common occurrence, then may we believe 
that Jesus Christ and his followers have, by a 
simple, unpopular, impolitic human scheme, accom- 
plished all that they have done without the aid of 
superhuman influence and power. But what are 
the facts in the case? Jesus Christ and his apos- 
tles gave plenary proof of their divine mission. 
The truths they taught were fully attested by the 
mighty signs and wonders which attended their 
ministry. The word of God fell from their lips as 
burning coals; sharper was it than a two-edged 
sword; it pierced to the hearts of thousands in a 
day. The power of God was often visibly dis- 
played before the eyes of the multitude. The 
faith of those who believed stood not in the " wis- 
dom of men, but in the power of God;" and this 
was the secret of their success — this was the 
mighty force which shook to their foundations 
principalities and powers, and will continue to 
shake until not only earth, but also heaven, shall 
be shaken, "that those things which cannot be 
shaken may remain." "Wherefore we receiving 



DIVINE REVELATION. 75 

a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have 
grace whereby we may serve God with reverence 
and godly fear." 

For other confirmative evidence of the truth of 
divine revelation, we might advert to the nature 
and effects of the religion it teaches, its consola- 
tions and hopes, its denunciations of vice and en- 
couragements of virtue, its civilizing and refining 
influences upon all nations wherever it obtains, 
and, finally, its magnificent conception and avowed 
object of redeeming the world from sin and its 
consequent evils and calamities, and of restoring 
mankind to the image and favor of God, and of 
making them happy forever. From all these 
sources, besides others, are derived evidences con- 
firmative of the truth of the religion taught in. the 
Christian revelation, and, by so much, the truth 
of the revelation itself. 



PART III. — THE PROVIDENCE OF 
GOD, GENERAL AND SPECIAL. 



The General Providence of God. 

BY the providence of God we understand the 
wise, constant, and consistent superintend- 
ence which he exercises in every department of 
his universal dominion; and the object of such 
superintendence is the regularity, order, and har- 
mony of the whole, together with the happiness 
of all his creatures capable of its enjoyment, and 
all for his declarative glory. 

We shall briefly consider this subject under two 
heads: first, the general providence of God, and 
second, the special providence of God. 

By the general providence of God we under- 
stand the administration of those laws he has or- 
dained and established for the government of all 
and every part of the created universe. Those 
laws are absolute, and spring from the divine sov- 
ereignty, which may be considered as the aggre- 
gate of his natural perfections. These, as we 
have already seen, are his self-existence, infinite 
power, wisdom, omniscience, omnipresence, un- 



PROVIDENCE OP GOD. 77 

changeableness, and independence; to abstract any 
one of which would be destructive ' of the divine 
sovereignty. Those laws called natural may, with 
equal propriety, be termed sovereign laws, and, as 
a whole, or in aggregate, may be considered a 
transcript of God's natural perfections. These 
natural, or sovereign, laws are so styled in contra- 
distinction to his laws called moral, which are a 
transcript of his moral attributes. Absolute sov- 
ereignty and immaculate holiness may be consid- 
ered the aggregate of the entire character of God, 
as revealed to us in the book of nature and of the 
sacred Scriptures. His sovereignty is abundantly 
taught in the Bible; so, likewise, is Iris holiness. 
Now, to deprive Deity of any one of his moral 
attributes would destroy his holiness; so, to take 
from him any one of his natural attributes would 
be destructive of his sovereignty. If these things 
be so — and, at present, we perceive no error — we 
arrive at the conclusion that all the laws emanat- 
ing from God find their origin in his divine nature, 
and are a transcript of either his natural or moral 
perfections; and we see no reason why beings in 
a higher department of creation should bear the 
impress of his moral attributes, and beings of a 
lower department should not bear the impress of 
his natural attributes. 

From the above view taken of this subject, 
we are warranted, we think, to take it as true 



78 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

that the laws appointed for the government of 
the entire created universe spring from either 
the supreme sovereignty or infinite holiness of 
God, and that the rational and irrational bear 
their impress, respectively. 

The sovereign laws which God has imposed 
upon the material creation are by moralists and 
philosophers termed the laws of nature; such as the 
attraction of gravity, of magnetism, of cohesion, 
and motion, together with those laws which govern 
animal life — locomotion, involuntary action; em- 
bracing, also, all the instincts of animated nature, 
the infinite variety of affinities, repulsions, and 
aggregations, the laws that pervade incipient con- 
ception, germination, growth, perfection, decay, 
and reproduction. All these, and others of like 
character, are by naturalists termed the laws of 
nature. These laws have their origin in the su- 
preme sovereignty of God, and are designed to 
maintain the diversity and variety abounding in 
every department of his works, and their complete 
union in one harmonious whole. 

Now, all these so-called laws of nature are em- 
bodied in the will of God, and they exist and op- 
erate as much now according to the action of his 
present will as they did when that will was first 
impressed upon the. works of creation ; for we are 
bound to conceive of Deity as being present, at 
the same time, in every part of his dominions, un- 



PROVIDENCE OF GOD. 79 

less we give him a local habitation, which would 
destroy his omnipresence and, by consequence, his 
supreme sovereignty. If, therefore, we consider 
the Supreme Being as an infinite, living, active 
intelligence, as we are bound to do, we must admit 
that he is the administrator of his own government 
and laws, and the supervisor over all things, great 
and small, throughout all his dominions. 

From these considerations we may fairly con- 
clude that God — always present everywhere 
throughout the universe, never dormant or passive, 
but always active and efficient — exercises a con- 
stant control and direction of all the works of his 
hands, and that not only we ourselves, but all 
things else, have being and live and move in him. 
And not only the first creation, but continuance 
of being, life, and motion of all things, constantly 
depend upon that infinite source of being, life, and 
motion; so that should his will and power for a 
single moment cease to act, all being would cease 
to be, and, by consequence, all life and motion 
would become extinct. 

Thus, it may be seen that we stand opposed to 
the notion, which is but too prevalent, that Deity 
has brought into existence the great frame-work 
of creation and imposed upon every part laws 
which are called natural, which laws involve cer- 
tain causes, and those causes always producing 
their legitimate effects, and that he has left those 



80 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

laws of nature to move on in their operations 
without any direct supervision or oversight, or 
without paying to them any farther attention 
whatever. Such notions represent God as riot 
being everywhere present in his own dominions, 
where these laws prevail, or, if present, that he 
is inactive or passive. Such ideas are opposed to 
the infinity of the Godhead, derogatory and dis- 
honoring to his character; whereas, the doctrine 
that the self-living, independent life and action of 
the great I Am pervades all nature and, unconfined, 
fills infinity, gives us the most exalted conceptions 
of the adorable character of him who "is God 
over all." 

Having now offered some thoughts upon the 
general providence of God, we proceed, secondly, 
to treat briefly of his special, or particular, provi- 
dence. 

The Special Providence of God 

consists, in part, of the appointment of laws 
which are in their nature positive, though morally 
binding until the Lawgiver may, in his wisdom, 
see proper to annul them. This he may, of his 
good pleasure, at any time do, without any in- 
fringement of the fixed laws of his general gov- 
ernment; and his special providence farther con- 
sists of all those acts whereby he overrules the 
pain and suffering incident upon the violation of 
his general laws, as well as the bestowment of 



PROVIDENCE OF GOD. 81 

special blessings when and where he may see 
proper, and, still farther, in the performance of 
acts supernatural, or above the laws called the 
laws of nature. These latter acts have for their 
object the inspiration of men to teach, and to fore- 
tell events of the future, and for the performance 
of miracles. 

To illustrate the case in regard to God's 
special providence, we would introduce the 
family, or patriarchal, government as practiced 
among men, which will be conceded by all to be a 
striking type of the government of God, who is 
the great Father of us all. The head of every 
well-regulated family has his general rules, by 
which he regulates his affairs and governs his 
household ; one may be that his family shall retire 
to rest at an early hour of the night, another that 
none of his family shall use intoxicating drinks, 
another that all shall be temperate in eating, and 
another that his younger children shall not play 
with fire nor meddle with edged tools. Now, all 
these general and standing rules answer to the es- 
tablished general laws of God called the laws of 
nature ; and some of those laws, like some of these, 
inflict penal punishment upon their violators — for 
instance, the child that plays with fire, or that 
meddles with the forbidden tools, or indulges in 
excessive eating : in one case the child gets burned, 

in another he is wounded, and still in another he 
4* 



82 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

is caused to be sick. Now, in all these cases of 
violation of the general laws of the parent the 
"violator suffers the penalty, but the parent, being 
compassionate as well as just, applies the proper 
remedies and cures the burn, heals the wound, and 
relieves the pain and suffering of the immoderate 
eater. All these special acts of the parent are 
performed inside the circle of his general laws, 
nor do they abrogate or annul them; and still far- 
ther, the parent may, if he in his wisdom see 
proper, inflict some other and special punishment 
upon his erring child, as an additional lesson, warn- 
ing him against a repetition of disobedience. All 
these special acts of the parent are performed not 
in opposition to his general laws, but in perfect 
harmony with them. 

Here, then, we have a form of government anal- 
ogous to the government of the great Parent of 
all, and highly typical of it. The general laws 
established by the earthly parent as the outlines 
of his paternal government, in which he himself 
presides and acts in their administration, answer 
to the established laws of God st}ded the laws of 
nature ; and the special acts of the earthly parent 
answer to the special acts of the Father of all, 
performed by him inside the great outlines of his 
government, consisting of the laws of nature. 
Nor do His inside special acts abrogate or make 
void his general laws any more than the inside 



PROVIDENCE OF GOD. 83 

special acts of the earthly parent annul his general 
laws. In the family government we have an ex- 
hibition of both a general and a special providence, 
which we think is a fair interpretation of the gen- 
eral and special providence of God. Now, in the 
exercise of right reason, who can find fault with 
the earthly parent for the kind acts and offices by 
him performed toward his erring and suffering 
children, especially when all these acts are done 
inside the laws of the wider circle, and not in con- 
travention of them ? What kind of a family gov- 
ernment would that be where the parent would 
attend alone to the administration of his general 
laws, totally neglecting all those special acts of 
paternal kindness in mitigating or relieving the 
sorrows, distresses, and sufferings of his wayward 
children ? and what ground of hope of relief could 
the suffering children have in the skill or sympa- 
thy of such an inattentive parent ? None what- 
ever. The children would see naught else in such 
a parent than a stern ruler, executing a few gen- 
eral laws ; whose face was seldom, if ever, lighted 
up with a smile; who showed them no signs of 
compassion, while, at the same time, he could do 
so without any disturbance whatever of his gen- 
eral laws. 

In farther consideration of this subject — as we 
conceive, one of the gravest and of the highest 
concern — we solicit patient attention until we con- 



84 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

template the Father of the universe transcending 
the boundaries of the earthly parent in performing 
special acts of his providence, not only within the 
range of his general laws, but outside of and above 
them, in reference to those works called supernat- 
ural, or miraculous. Such works were performed 
by Jesus Christ, his prophets and apostles. Works 
supernatural do not necessarily convey the idea 
that such works are in all cases antagonistic to the 
laws of nature, but, in some cases, above them, 
and outside of the province in which these laws 
operate. Who can say that turning water into 
wine, or restoring sight to the blind, was a sus- 
pension of the laws of nature, or subversive of 
them ? It is true, natural laws knew of no power 
or agencies by which such phenomena could be 
effected, yet a power omnipotent could, for special 
ends, perform a special work above the ordinary 
operations of natural laws without encroaching 
upon their destined or allotted province. Did 
these miracles of our Saviour suspend the law of 
gravity, or that of magnetism? Many miracles 
of this character were wrought by Jesus Christ 
by supernatural agency, and also by his prophets 
and apostles. This power, or agency, was above 
and extra of the power and agencies of natural 
laws. 

But it may be replied that there are cases re- 
corded in the Old Testament scriptures, in giving 



PROVIDENCE OP GOD. 85 

credence to which Ave must admit the suspension 
of physical or natural law, at least for a time, in 
order to accomplish a special object. We are in- 
formed that Joshua, the successor of Moses, com- 
manded the sun to stand still, and that luminary 
obeyed him. The command that the sun should 
stop his course, instead of the earth, was issued 
in accordance with the doctrine then prevalent 
that the sun made a revolution once in twenty- 
four hours around the earth, instead of the earth 
revolving on its axis producing the phenomenon 
of day and night. Had he addressed the command 
to the earth, instead of the sun, the entire Hebrew 
nation would, it is probable, have looked upon him 
as one bereaved of his reason, and refused to fol- 
low him. But however this might have been, we 
are assured by the record that the desired effect 
was produced. Now, if we admit that at the 
command of Joshua omnipotent power arrested 
the rotary motion of the earj^twe are compelled 
to admit that the natural laws which govern mo- 
tion were actually suspended ; and the friends of 
this hypothesis plead that nature's Grod, the Al- 
mighty Sovereign of the universe, could, if he 
saw proper, as easily arrest the earth's motion as 
to impart to it the first impulse of power which 
gave it motion, and that he could, and did, prevent 
any disturbance in the harmony of the heavenly 
bodies. 



86 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Another hypothesis is, that the appearance of 
the sun for so long a time beyond his Avonted stay 
above the horizon was owing to the great density 
of the atmosphere, miraculously produced, causing 
so great a refraction of the solar rays that the sun 
was visible above the horizon for a considerable 
time after he had actually sunk below it. It is a 
well-known fact that the rays of the sun are re- 
fracted in proportion to the density of the medium 
through which they pass ; and this, say they, ac- 
counts for the appearance of the sun above ihe 
horizon before his actual rising, on the island of 
Nova Zembla, to some philosophers who had re- 
paired to that place to make astronomical observa- 
tions. But, irrespective of all that is said, and of all 
speculative opinions, it cannot be reasonably 
doubted that the God and Author of nature could, 
if he saw proper, to accomplish a certain end, sus- 
pend for a time any of the laws of nature which 
he had imposed, ap-^at the same time prevent any 
confusion or the least irregularity from accruing 
in the harmonious order of his creation. His 
great living will is the balance-center of the created 
universe. In that living will are embodied all the 
mighty forces which men call natural laws ; they 
are all of that will, and under its supreme control. 
That will can say to any of these forces, Be still, 
and they are still, Move on, and they move ; and 
all this he could do, because he is omnipotent. 



PROVIDENCE OF GOD. 87 

We have seen that God, the infinite source of 
light, life, and motion — ever and everywhere pres- 
ent through all, in all, and over all ; in whom all 
have life, live, and move — must, of necessity, be 
ever and essentially active in the administration 
of his general laws ; and attributing to him the 
essential attributes of his Godhead, all we have to 
do to come to a right conception of the part he 
takes in the operations of natural laws is to always 
view him as the present God, and the present active 
will or sovereignty of God as the great embodi- 
ment of all the natural laws imposed upon the 
material creation. In reference also to his special 
providence, we have offered remarks involving as 
well its necessity as its propriety, together with 
an illustration which, for aught we see to the con- 
trary, is altogether relevant and conclusive. 

In concluding our remarks upon this part of the 
subject, we would present some of the manifesta- 
tions of God's special providence recorded in the 
Scriptures ; and here we scarcely know where to 
begin or where to end. 

The historical portions of both the Old and 
New Testaments consist, in a great measure, of 
rehearsals of the special acts and interpositions of 
the Supreme Being. These divine exhibitions 
were almost coeval with man's existence; they 
began ere yet man was banished from Eden. The 
promise of victory in the seed of the woman was 



88 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

an act of God's special providence ; so also wat* 
the curse upon Cain for the murder of his brother, 
The translation of the Prophet Enoch, the warn- 
ing of Noah to build an ark, the world-destroying 
flood, and the salvation of Noah and his famity, 
with pairs of beasts and birds and creeping things, 
to reinhabit the earth, are all but so many acts of 
special providence. The prophetic dream of young 
Joseph, his captivity, release, and exaltation in 
Egypt; the removal of Jacob and his family to 
that country; the wonderful preservation of Moses, 
and his appointment to conduct, as their leader, 
the Israelites to the promised land ; the wonders 
performed in Egypt by him and Aaron ; the su- 
pernatural destruction of Egypt's first-born ; the 
passage of the Israelites across the Red Sea, to- 
gether with the destruction of the hosts of Pha- 
raoh — and what shall we more say? for the time 
would fail us to speak of the quails, the manna, 
the waters of the rock, the opening of the earth 
to destroy Korah and his company, the giving of 
the law, the passage over Jordan, and the over- 
throw and destruction of the idolatrous inhabitants 
of Canaan. All these, and many other things, 
might be mentioned, which make up a consecutive 
chain of divine special manifestations and inter- 
positions. And besides all this, the New Testa- 
ment is replete with examples of similar interpo- 
sitions of Deity in proof of the doctrine of a 



PROVIDENCE OF GOD. 89 

special providence. This doctrine is taught in the 
declarations of Christ : " The very hairs of your 
head are all numbered ; " " One sparrow shall not 
fall on the ground without your Father;" and 
James says, " Go to now, ye that say we will go 
into such a city and continue there a year and 
buy and sell and make gain ... ye ought to 
say, If the Lord will, we will do thus or so." 
This clearly shows that even our temporal pros- 
perity does not depend exclusively upon our own 
feeble arm, or upon human prudence, and that our 
efforts are vain unless we are blessed in them with 
the divine cooperation. Furthermore, when we 
consider the attributes of the adorable Creator — 
his power, his presence, his all-seeing, together 
with his infinite goodness, upon the one hand, and 
upon the other the weakness, temptations, afflic- 
tions, distresses, and necessities of erring mortals 
— does it not appear not only desirable, but indis- 
pensable to their happiness, that they should be 
under the vigilance of an unsleeping eye, the guid- 
ance of a counsel wiser than their own, the pro- 
tection of a more powerful arm than theirs, and in 
reach of a hand ever ready to supply their every 
want? Well, then, all these things, so desirable 
and indispensable, are abundantly supplied in the 
administration of God's special providence. 

With the Bible in our hands, together with ex- 
perience and observation, is it not passing strange 



90 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

that any well-balanced mind can disbelieve a divine 
special providence- — especially that any one claim- 
ing to be a Christian can be thus led away with 
the error of the wicked? To deny this doctrine 
is a denial of God ; it makes his promises of aid 
and comfort of no effect; it saps the foundation 
of trust in God, destroys the utility of prayer, 
and makes it a nullity. Can there be found a 
skeptic in all the land who does not deny the 
special providence of God ? and Christians, if you 
deny it, you are in company with infidels ; you 
cannot believe the Bible, for the Bible is full to 
overflowing of this doctrine. To what effect does 
God admonish you to " lean not to your own un- 
derstanding, but to trust at all times in the Lord?" 
Why does he say they that trust in the Lord shall 
never be brought to confusion, if there is no such 
thing as a special providence ? In what conceiva- 
ble sense can you understand his promises of de- 
liverance out of your troubles and afflictions other 
than by his divine interpositions ? or how other- 
wise can he make good his promise to you that in 
the hour of temptation he will make a way for 
your escape ? And if there is no special provi- 
dence, the promise of Christ to the gospel ministry 
that he will be with them " alway, even to the 
end of the world," contains but poor consolation. 
Christians are admonished to pray and believe; 
but why pray? Simply because they are needy, 



PROVIDENCE OF GOD. 91 

and God has promised to answer. "Ask, and ye 
shall receive." But how receive, if no hand is 
stretched out to bestow? Now, if God bestows 
blessings upon his people in answer to the prayer 
of faith, this demonstrates the doctrine of a special 
providence; but if there is no divine special in- 
terposition, then prayer is ineffectual and useless, 
and the Scripture account of Elijah's prayer of 
faith, and its answer in the descending showers 
of an abundant rain, turns out to be a mere fable 
with no foundation in fact ; and so also in scores 
of other recorded cases. 

Thus, it is plain to be seen that this infidel 
denial of the special providence of God is fraught 
with the direst evils ; indeed, there is but one 
short step between this and downright atheism. 
And Christian professor, whoever you are, you 
ought to be ashamed and abashed to know that 
you have suffered yourself to be hoodwinked and 
cheated by the devil and his coadjutors into this 
sin — aye, this hell-born skepticism. 

We have enlarged more upon this subject than 
we should have done, because, with pain, we have 
seen for years past a wide-prevailing tendency to 
ignore the doctrine of a special providence. Nor 
is this confined to the outside world ; it has found 
its way into the Church. Should such infidelity 
gain upon the Church, trust in self will supplant 
trust in God : faith, if any, would be weak and 



92 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

inefficient ; the altar of prayer deserted ; but lit- 
tle reliance on the divine promises ; and religion, 
losing its power, would gradually dwindle into 
cold and lifeless formalism. 

The mighty signs and wonders wrought in Egypt 
were designed of God to accomplish two objects : 
first, to make his power known in all the earth ; 
second, to induce Pharaoh and his people to let 
the children of Israel go free. And how was his 
almighty power to be made known but through 
his special interpositions ? In these special acts 
his power was revealed in the terrible judgments 
inflicted upon that nation of idolatrous infidels. 
Take also the case of Nebuchadnezzar, King of 
Babylon, and behold in his vision of the heaven- 
high tree, " whose sight reached to the ends of the 
earth," the hand of God specially revealed, not 
only in the interpretation by Daniel, but also its 
fulfillment in him who had the vision ; for it is 
stated that at the end of twelve months he walked 
in the palace of his kingdom and proudly solilo- 
quized, thus: "Is not this great Babylon that I 
have built for the house of the kingdom, by the 
might of my power, and for the honor of my 
majesty?" Here it is plain to be seen that he sets 
aside the providence of God, and attributes all to 
the " might of his own power ; " and we are in- 
formed that while the word was in his mouth 
there fell a voice from heaven, saying : " Thy king- 



PROVIDENCE OF GOD. 93 

dom is departed from thee, and they shall drive 
thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the 
beasts of the field." But the prophet told him 
that though he should be ejected and punished, on 
account of his pride and infidelity, his kingdom 
should be restored when he should be convinced 
that the " heavens do rule." Thus it appears that 
the heavy judgments of God have fallen upon not 
only individuals, but also upon whole nations, for 
rejecting the doctrine of his special providence. 



PART IV.— THE FREE AGENCY OP 

MAN. . 



Man a Moral Free Agent. 

MUCH may be advanced upon this important 
subject. To acquire a clear apprehension of 
it, it is necessary that we should first know what 
kind of a creature man is. On this question the 
sacred Scriptures shall be our guide. Therein we 
are informed that the Lord God formed man of 
the dust of the ground, and "breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a liv- 
ing soul." 

According to this account he is not a simple, 
but a complex, being, compounded of the dust 
of the earth, of animal life or spirit, and of a 
soul rational and immortal. These components 
are mysteriously united in man, and constitute his 
personal being ; and such is his physical organism 
that, in order to the sustenance of his animal life, 
he eats, digests, and assimilates vegetable and 
animal food, while the rational, immortal soul 
must find its proper aliment in a higher source, 
even in the great uncreated Spirit, in whom all 

(94) 



THE FREE AGENCY OF MAN. 95 

fullness dwells. Thus in man we see the embodi- 
ment of the mere material, the animal, and the 
rational departments of God's created beings, the 
representative of earth and heaven. We are far- 
ther informed that he was made in the image of 
God, and after his likeness. Is it inquired, In 
what did that likeness consist? We answer, 
Principally in righteousness and true holiness; 
but still we might go farther, and say that he was 
not only impressed with God's moral image or 
holiness of nature, but that he also bore, in some 
measure, the lineaments or image of God's natural 
attributes ; for, to say nothing of his physical 
power, he was endued with power to subdue and 
govern this earthly province, as lord and king of 
all. So also was he inspired with knowledge in- 
volving his wisdom to direct him in the exercise 
of his power. And although he possesses neither 
omniscience, omnipresence, nor immutability, still 
he can hold under his inspection and supervision 
a great variety of parts comprehended within the 
range of scientific developments. He can convey 
himself in thought many millions of miles in a 
moment; and although he cannot be everywhere 
present at the same time, yet he can, in thought, 
be present at this moment in Europe, the next in 
Asia or Africa, and the next at the sun, or on the 
outer verge of the very confines of the solar sys- 
tem. And though he is subject to many muta- 



96 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

tions, yet we find him in some respects adhering 
to certain matters and principles with great reso- 
lution and constancy. 

Now it must be conceded that although man 
does not possess any of the above-named natural 
attributes of Deity to an unlimited extent, yet 
there must be a relation existing between those 
natural properties in man, in the finite degree in 
which he possesses them, and the natural attri- 
butes of God possessed by him in an unlimited 
or infinite degree. 

Now, as the adorable Creator is infinite in all 
the attributes of his nature, so are they all, 
whether natural or moral, in this sense, incommu- 
nicable ; but relatively and in degree, they were 
impressed upon the first pair of human kind, and 
they were thus made in the likeness of God. 
Hence we may clearly discover in this image of 
God impressed upon man, both the relative purity 
of God's nature and the subordinate sovereignty 
of his character; and so fashioned, he shone forth 
in the full image of God, and was made lord and 
governor of this lower world. Having now con- 
sidered what kind of a being man is, we shall pro- 
ceed to remark next upon his moral freedom. 

As Deity is an infinite, intelligent, independent 
free agent, so we might conclude that man, created 
in his divine image, was, in a finite and subordi- 
nate sense, an intelligent, dependent free agent; 



THE FREE AGENCY OF MAN. 97 

otherwise, how could he bear the image of God ? 
And as God, uncreated and self-existent, possessed 
within himself all the antecedents necessary to 
independent free agency, so man, bearing his like- 
ness, was endowed with all the antecedents neces- 
sary to dependent free agency. God is self-exist- 
ent and independent, and is, therefore, absolutely 
free. Man being his creature, and dependent 
upon him, is, therefore, relatively and subordi- 
nate^ free. God is absolutely free in the exer- 
cise of his sovereign will in the infinite sphere of 
its action. Man in God's image was, in the exer- 
cise of his will, relatively and subordinately free, 
in the finite sphere of his action. Man, then, as 
a created, dependent, intelligent being, though en- 
dowed with a free will, yet not absolutely, but 
subordinately, was accountable to his Creator for 
the exercise of his freedom. 

Fatalists of all past ages, and of all descriptions, 
have either brought the will of man under some 
constitutional necessity of his nature, or under the 
absolute control of the great first Cause, both of 
which theories, however variously modified at dif- 
ferent periods, by different sects, are alike de- 
structive of man's moral freedom. When this is 
destroyed, his accountability ceases, and the doc- 
trine of rewards and punishments becomes unmean- 
ing and powerless. Conscience w^ould swing from 
her mooring, and moral law would lose its appli- 
5 



98 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

cation. When a man says, I am as I am from a 
fatal necessity of my nature, or I am as I am 
from an inexorable destiny, or just as my Maker 
secretly designs and controls me to be, there is 
but little chance, and if possible, less hope, in his 
case. Hence any religious creed embodying doc- 
trines which, from their nature, would lead to an 
approximation to fatalism, must, in its tendencies, 
be dangerous to the souls of men. 

That men are free agents, is a truth established 
not only by the Scriptures, but is sustained by 
almost universal consent, and is the reason of 
moral obligation. Agency which acts without an 
alternative, or the power of a contrary action, is 
no free agency at all. Such an agent acts from 
necessity, and only as it is acted upon by some 
force exterior to itself. Such agency is found in 
the motion of the clouds, of ships upon the sea, 
and water-wheels, and all kinds of machinery. 
The action of such agents bears the relation to its 
producing power that effects bear to their causes. 
It is plain to inspection that such agents cannot 
be held accountable, nor are their actions either 
laudable or blameworthy, for the reason that they 
are pot free voluntary agents, having the power 
of choice. 

An agent, then, to be held accountable, must 
be endowed with the power of will, to choose 
freely this or that, without any coercive influence 



THE FREE AGENCY OF MAN. 99 

exterior to himself. He must have the ability to 
choose, with the ability to choose differently. 
Hence it is perfectly plain that such an agent is 
free, and should be held accountable for his ac- 
tions ; and equally plain that he is a proper sub- 
ject of law, of rewards and punishments. This 
is the kind of agency with which men are en- 
dowed, and, no doubt, angels too. The simple 
fact that man was made a subject of law, is evi- 
dence that he had the power of choice. Who 
would ever think of imposing laws upon his water- 
mill, or steam-engine, especially penal laws, to pun- 
ish them, should they not answer his purposes ? 
Such a man would be thought in need of medical 
aid, instead of friendly remonstrances. The fact, 
then, that Deity made man a subject of law, pre- 
supposes his power of free volition. That man 
had the power to obey, is clearly proven by the 
imposition of the law. If there was no power to 
obedience, there was no justice in requiring it. 
Something cannot be justly required where there 
is nothing to give. An effect cannot be produced 
without an adequate cause. The effect, obedience, 
could not, by possibility, be produced, unless the 
cause, power, to obey existed. 

We have evidence of the truth of this doctrine 
upon almost every page of the Bible. The guilt 
and condemnation of Cain, resulting from the mur- 
der of his brother, Abel, were based upon the 



100 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

ground that the act was voluntary. Could he 
have pleaded, " I had no power to do otherwise ; 
I was forced to the act by a power I could not re- 
sist," the Almighty, who is infinitely just, would 
have excused him. The punishment due to crime 
is everywhere, in the moral, ecclesiastical, and 
civil world, inflicted upon the ground of voluntary 
transgression. That man is morally free is a truth 
of which we are conscious ; and consciousness is 
the end of all controversy. Where consciousness 
begins reason and argument end. We are as con- 
scious that we are capable of voluntary action as 
we are that we think or feel. It is this conscious- 
ness which superinduces regret, or remorse of con- 
science, when we perpetrate a sinful act. The 
after-thought is, " I could have avoided it; I might 
have done otherwise." Here is the ground, and 
the only ground, of remorse. Convince a man 
that he is not a free agent, that he does not pos- 
sess the power of voluntary choice, with the power 
to choose differently from that which he does 
choose, and you rob him of his conscience, or ren- 
der that monitor powerless ; you degrade him 
down to a level with the brutes, which uniformly 
act under the fatality of their natural instincts; 
you at once make him a fatalist; he is prepared 
for any of the heathenish, atheistical fatalisms. 

But men cannot be convinced that they are not 
free agents. Many have labored hard to do this 



THE FKEE AGENCY OF MAN. 101 

to get clear of accountability, and to silence the 
clamors of conscience ; but their efforts have 
proved abortive. The professed skeptic dies un- 
der remorse of conscience, and this will be his 
undying worm and unquenchable fire ; the reflec- 
tion, " I was morally free, capable of a different 
choice from the one I made, and I voluntarily 
chose the ways of sin," will sting and torment him 
forever. 

It will be in full view of man's moral freedom 
that the judgment of God will proceed in the 
great day of retribution. " I was hungry and ye 
gave me no meat ; naked and ye clothed me not." 
Now, if they could plead they had nothing to give, 
they would in their destitution or impotence find 
a lawful excuse with Him who deigns not to re- 
quire something of those to whom He has given 
nothing, or to require that of a man which he hath 
not nor ever had. But because they had both 
food and raiment, and voluntarily refused to give, 
they are condemned for their willful neglect. 

We are apprised that some have made meta- 
physical distinctions upon the subject of man's 
ability in regard to the performance of what God 
requires. They have divided this ability into 
what they are pleased to term natural and moral. 
They maintain that man has natural ability to 
good, but no moral. They hold that his account- 
ability to God is based upon his natural power to 



102 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

obey him, though he possesses no moral power to 
do so, and yet that men are held accountable for 
not obeying, and are justly punishable for disobe- 
dience. But this metaphysical distinction made 
in man's ability resulted no doubt from a convic- 
tion, in the minds of some who had adopted the 
Calvinistic creed, that some kind of ability in man 
was necessary as a ground of his accountability, 
in order to render him a fit subject of law. Such 
subtle hair-splitting distinctions and curious specu- 
lations are quite beyond the ken of the common 
people, and are adapted only to a lecture-room, 
and hardly that. 

Preach to the " common people " that they have 
natural ability to believe and be saved, and that 
therefore they are required forthwith to believe, 
but in the next breath tell them that they have 
no moral poiver to believe, and without it to be- 
lieve is morally impossible, and what would you 
effect by it? Possibty some might give you a va- 
cant stare, some go to sleep, and others eulogize 
you as a "deep man" and a "great preacher" be- 
cause they did not understand a word you said. 
Such preaching would be calculated to bewilder 
the sinner rather than enlighten him, and to set 
his mind adrift upon the ocean of speculation and 
uncertainty. 

The plain word of God, in its common-sense 
and most obvious meaning, is the rule of our faith. 



THE FREE AGENCY OF MAN. 103 

It is written, " Behold, this day have I set life 
and death before you," " choose life that you may 
live." Here the doctrine of man's ability to either 
good or evil is set forth as in open daylight. Life 
is set before them upon the one hand, and death 
upon the other. Why set both before them if 
they had the power of choosing but one ? Again, 
"Choose ye this day whom ye will serve; if the 
Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal then follow 
him." Nothing could be clearer. If they had 
the power to choose upon one side only, why call 
upon them to choose between them both ? If they 
had no power of choice on either side, the prophet 
was either ignorant or a dissembler, to attribute 
either of which to him would be presumption. 

All the injunctions to repentance, invitations of 
the gospel, promises of rewards upon obedience, 
and the threatenings of punishment upon disobe- 
dience, proceed upon the hypothesis that man is 
morally free. Christ says, "Except ye repent, ye 
shall all likewise perish." " Seek, and ye shall 
find ; ask, and ye shall receive." " Come unto 
me." Again, he says, "Ye will not come unto me 
that ye might have life." If they had no power 
to come, why prefer such a charge against them ? 
If they had no power to obey, would he have 
made such a requisition? would he — could he — 
punish them for disobedience ? How often would 
he have gathered together the backsliding Jews, 



104 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

as under his wing, but they "would not?" Christ 
tvould, but they would not. We might multiply 
quotations and arguments from the Bible indefi- 
nitely to sustain this doctrine ; but, as before re- 
marked, it is a truth of which we are conscious, 
and consciousness is the end of all controversy. 



PART V. — FOREKNOWLEDGE AND 
DECREES OF GOD. 



The Foreknowledge of God. 

KNOWLEDGE may be said to be a certain 
perception of things and facts that now ex- 
ist, or that have existed heretofore. And fore- 
knowledge signifies a knowledge of such things 
and facts before they did exist. Some have com- 
mitted the error of confounding the foreknowledge 
of God with his absolute, immutable decrees, than 
which nothing is more improper. 

God's decrees are the determinations of his will, 
and his sovereign will is his absolute law. But 
no such thing can be said of his foreknowledge. 
What God decrees must, of necessity, come to 
pass, and the universe of intelligent beings could 
not prevent it. And if God's absolute decrees 
involve necessity ', that necessity is the prime cause 
of bringing to pass what he decrees. Whereas, 
foreknowledge is abstract from all causality, and 
possesses within itself no force of will or law in 
bringing into existence the things foreknown. 
Moreover, if any should suppose that God's fore- 
st (105) 



106 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

knowledge necessitates the coming to pass of all 
that he foreknows, then it is asked, Why should 
God have any decrees, since his foreknowledge 
would exclude their necessity and answer in their 
stead ? u Known to God are all his works from 
the beginning," but widely different is his fore- 
knowledge from his decrees or absolute laws. . 

The Decrees of God. 

By the decrees of God we are to understand 
his wise, independent, and holy purposes which 
he has purposed within himself for his own glory, 
and for the happiness of his creatures. 

The decrees of Deity spring from his sover- 
eignty. Of infinite right, he rules in the armies 
of heaven and earth, and none dare say, "What 
doest thou?" Of one thing, however, we may 
be assured, "The Judge of all the earth will do 
right.''' 

His decrees, though springing from his sover- 
eignty, must of necessity be, and always are, in 
perfect harmony with his justice, goodness, and 
truth. For were we to conceive of him as the 
author of a decree, of a nature contrary to either 
of these attributes, we should find in such decree 
a denial of himself, which is impossible. " He 
cannot deny himself." To decree to bring into 
existence one, or myriads of intelligent beings, 
and then deny them the necessary means of hap- 



FOREKNOWLEDGE AND DECREES. 107 

piness for no other reason than that he had sov- 
ereign power to do so, would be contrary to his 
moral attributes. For him to create one or more in- 
telligent free agents, holding them accountable for 
their acts, while at the same time he had decreed 
the acts they should perforin, and to execute his 
decree he interposes his sovereignty, either di- 
rectly or indirectly, so as to cause or occasion the 
acts thus decreed to come to pass, would be sheer 
mockery of his creatures, and destructive of their 
moral freedom. The execution of such decree by 
its author would degrade the agent, and let him 
down upon a level with the beasts of the field ; 
and farther, the Creator, in a case of this kind, 
would be acting contrary to the infinite rectitude 
of his moral nature, especially should he proceed 
to punish such creatures for their actions. God, 
who is " love," can never act such a part — can 
never be the author of such decrees. From these 
conclusions there come up now two important re- 
flections : first, that Deity, as a sovereign, has de- 
creed nothing but what is in perfect harmony with 
the rectitude of his moral character ; and, secondly, 
he has decreed nothing that would, in its execu- 
tion by him, in the slightest degree, infringe upon 
man's moral freedom in regard to his obedience or 
disobedience to moral law, or in reference to his 
personal salvation. For the moment the supreme 
Creator would interpose his sovereignty so as to 



108 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

give man's choice a decided bias, that moment his 
freedom is struck down, and he is brought under 
the law of necessity, and is no more a free, but a 
necessary, agent. His intelligence disregarded, 
his accountability destroyed, he is then a subject 
of neither reward nor punishment. 

Some have endeavored, for reasons known to 
themselves, to make a distinction in God's decrees, 
calling some positive, or absolute, and others per- 
missive. We suppose that this distinction gener- 
ally obtains with all those who still cling to the 
old doctrine of "the foreordination of all things 
whatsoever come to pass." But why such a 
distinction should be made, we are at a loss to 
conceive, unless it be to avoid the revolting idea 
that a God of infinite moral rectitude has abso- 
lutely decreed sin, because such absolute decree 
would involve the doctrine of fatal necessity, 
which would bear rather hard upon man's moral 
freedom, and make Deity himself the author of 
sin. If this is the true reason of that distinction 
in the eternal decrees of Jehovah (and we can 
perceive no other), we must confess that we do 
not see either its propriety or relevancy. Now 
those who distinguish between the decrees of God 
as absolute and permissive, hold that the fore- 
knowledge of God is dependent upon his decrees; 
for, say they, God could foreknow nothing as cer- 
tain, only such things as he had decreed. Now, 



FOREKNOWLEDGE AND DECREES. 109 

Deity either foreknew that man would sin, or he 
did not. If he did foreknow it as certain, it was 
(according to this doctrine) because he had de- 
creed it. But if he did not foreknow it as a thing 
certain, it was because he had not decreed it, and 
was, therefore, ignorant of the fact that man 
would sin. But God was not ignorant that man 
would certainly sin, and, therefore, he decreed it. 
This is a fair deduction from the doctrine of fore- 
ordination. 

Viewing from this stand-point the tenet of the 
foreordination of all things whatsoever come to 
pass, and the dependence of God's foreknowl- 
edge upon his decrees, we are forced to the inevita- 
ble conclusion that God was either ignorant that 
sin would certainly exist because he did not de- 
cree it, or that he foreknew it, as he certainly did, 
and, therefore, he decreed it. This conclusion, it 
will be said by the advocates of permissive de- 
crees, is based upon the doctrine of decrees abso- 
lute, and does not lie against decrees permissive. 
This we will now briefly examine. And what is 
a permissive decree ? It is a decree to permit the 
actor or doer to perform a certain act, or do a cer- 
tain thing. Now suppose the act or thing to be 
done was the sin perpetrated by Adam. Did the 
Creator foreknow, or did he not foreknow, that 
this sin would be committed ? Answer, He cer- 
tainly did foreknow it. Was this foreknowledge 



110 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

of Adam's sin dependent upon an absolute, or upon 
a permissive decree ? They answer, Upon a per- 
missive decree. Hence it follows that Deity did 
not know that Adam would sin until he permis- 
sively decreed it. But how could Deity decree to 
permit a certain thing, of which certain thing he 
had no previous knowledge ? It is absurd even 
to suppose it. The decree of permission presup- 
poses a previous knowledge of the thing permitted. 
And the permissive decree being subsequent to 
his foreknowledge of Adam's sin, it follows as a 
sequence that this foreknowledge was not depend- 
ent upon the decree. 

Now, if the advocates of the eternal foreordi- 
nation of all things will not allow that God did, 
from all eternity, absolutely decree the sin of 
Adam, and all other sins in the universe, for the 
obvious reason that such absolute decree would be 
fatal to moral freedom, and fix intelligent beings 
under the laws of necessity, they gain nothing ; 
for what is supposed to be gained on the one hand 
is more than lost on the other. For while some 
of the revolting features of the doctrine that God, 
out of his own mere good pleasure, did absolutely 
decree all sin, may be somewhat kept out of view 
by connecting with the decree the modifying term 
permissive, it is found that the permissive decree 
# is at war with the doctrine of the dependence of 
God's foreknowledge upon his decrees. Indeed, 



FOREKNOWLEDGE AND DECREES. Ill 

we think that in adopting the idea of permissive 
decrees much more is lost by its partisans than is 
gained ; for permission to do a certain thing car- 
ries with it the idea of an approval of the thing 
permitted. Should a king give permission to one 
of his subjects to perform a certain act, does he 
not license him to perform it? and is not the license 
evidence of the fact of the king's approval? This 
was certainly not the case with Deity in regard 
to the sin of Adam, or that of the fallen angels ; 
for God hates sin with perfect hatred. And so 
far as the so-styled permissive decrees of God are 
concerned, we think it a misnomer to call any of 
his decrees permissive in reference to the commis- 
sion of sin. In this regard there can be no such 
decrees. 

That the Creator of intelligent free agents 
leaves them to their own free volitions — that is, 
he does not interpose his sovereign power so 
as to coerce them — is what we most sincerely 
believe; and if God has decreed things concern- 
ing his rational creatures, this was one: that he 
would neither permit them to sin, in the above 
sense, nor forcibly prevent them. That God has 
divinely decreed, or foreordained, some, and perhaps 
many, things, we cheerfully grant. We also admit 
the great mystery in which the doctrine is involved 
(this we shall presently notice); that God decreed 
to place the sun in the firmament, to give light by 



112 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

day — the moon, also, to give light by night; that 
the earth should have a rotary and an annual mo- 
tion; that he would make man a rational being, 
and stamp upon him his own image, endowing him 
with the power of free volition, or choice, and 
hold him accountable; that upon all the animated 
creation below rational and accountable man, and 
upon the vegetable and merely material world, he 
would impress his absolute law, or decree, and 
make it the law of their nature, and that this ab- 
solute decree, or law, should be developed in their 
various instincts by which they should be neces- 
sarily controlled or governed. All such parts of 
creation come within the range of the absolute 
decrees, or laws, of necessity, and which laws of 
necessity consign them to their respective desti- 
nies. All such parts of creation are below the 
elevated plane of moral freedom, because below 
that of rationality; and as they are controlled by 
the absolute laws of necessity, they are not held 
accountable for their actions. God has given vast 
and ample range for the exercise of his sover- 
eignty, or absolute laws, but he has himself fixed 
his own boundary, and that boundary is the clearly- 
marked line of moral freedom and accountability. 
By an unhappy mistake, some have forced the ab- 
solute decrees of God across this line, invading the 
territories of moral froodom, creating inharmony 
and confusion. This, doubtless, is the cause of the 



FOREKNOWLEDGE AND DECREES. 113 

great mystery in which the absolute decrees of 
God are involved. 

We have already seen that man, in his physical 
nature, is the subject of involuntary motion, and 
of passions, propensities, and instincts in common 
with beings devoid of reason, and thus bears the 
impress of natural, or absolute, laws. These char- 
acteristics of his earthly nature were divinely in- 
grafted in him, and sustain the relation which he 
bears to earth; but that part of his nature which 
is intellectual and spiritual, sustaining his relation 
to heaven, and which exalts him to the loftv sta- 
tion of moral freedom, is not, nor is it by any 
means congruous or even possible that it should 
be, under the law of an absolute decree. The law 
designed to govern man as a personal free agent 
is in its nature moral. Now, this law was not, by 
an arbitrary act of Deity, superimposed upon man, 
but is founded in God's moral character, and its 
obligation upon man naturally arises from the re- 
lation which he sustains to him as an accountable 
being; and although it was the duty of the creat- 
ure to yield obedience to this law, yet, being left 
to his own free choice, he had power to disobey, 
of which he gave a fatal demonstration. This, 
however, he could not have avoided had his act of 
disobedience been predetermined by the absolute 
will or decree of God, no more than inert matter can 
stop its motion or put itself in motion when at rest. 



114 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

The absolute decrees, or sovereign laws, of God 
involve within themselves necessity. The truth 
of this proposition will appear from the following 
considerations: 1. All mere matter is governed by 
the absolute decrees, or sovereign laws, of God, 
which are the same. This none will deny. And 
does not mere matter act from sheer necessity? 
What, then, imposes this necessity? It is the 
controlling force or power of these absolute sov- 
ereign laws. The earth cannot by possibility stop 
its annual and daily motions; the stone of itself 
cannot take wings and fly; the magnet cannot 
cease its attraction; nor can the dead corpse raise 
itself again to life. And wherefore? Simply be- 
cause they are under the controlling power of 
necessity contained in absolute sovereign decrees, 
or laws. 2. The same holds good in regard to 
vegetable life. The grass cannot prevent itself 
from growing, nor the trees the ascent of sap, the 
display of their foliage, the tints of their blossoms, 
nor their production of fruits — because they are 
controlled by the same absolute laws of necessity. 
3. Rising still higher in the scale of existence, we 
come to the mere animal devoid of rationality. 
He cannot control his heart-beatings, his lung- 
breathings; and, true to his instincts and appetites, 
without the ability to control them, he hungers 
for food, thirsts for drink, and is satisfied when 
these wants are supplied.. His acts are controlled 



FOREKNOWLEDGE AND DECREES. 115 

by necessity imposed by the absolute law, or de- 
cree, of God — which circumstances and acts he 
cannot by any possibility prevent. Another step 
higher in the scale of being, and we reach man, 
the crowning masterpiece of the six days' work 
of God. If he, too, is a mere animal, devoid of 
a rational soul, and, like the beasts that perish, is 
not accountable, and therefore neither rewardable 
nor punishable for his actions, then let him be gov- 
erned like them, and his destiny be unchangeably 
fixed like theirs, by an absolute necessity imposed 
upon him by the unchangeable decrees, or sover- 
eign laws, of God ; and if the eternal destinies 
of man are unalterably fixed, for weal or woe, he 
is governed by the same absolute decrees, or laws, 
by which the lowest grades of life and inert mat- 
ter are governed; and as the latter are governed 
by the absolute decrees, or laws, of God which 
impose upon them necessity, and which necessity 
shapes and fixes their destiny, which it is impos- 
sible for them to avoid, so also if the destinies of 
men are determined and fixed by the decrees of 
God, man, like them, is fatally bound by necessity, 
and can no more avoid his decreed destiny than 
inert matter or the beasts that perish ; and if 
Deity foreordained and decreed whatsoever comes 
to pass, then all things that come to pass are 
brought about under the all-controlling sway of 
necessity, or fatality. The angels that sinned and 



116 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

fell, Adam who sinned and fell, could no more pre- 
vent their sin and fall than dead matter can move 
itself or stop itself when in motion, or than veg- 
etables can prevent their blooming and bearing, or 
than the mere animal can prevent the control of 
his natural instincts. 

Let us now examine a little into the nature of 
decrees. 1. What is a decree? Mentally, it is a 
determination of the will ; when made public, it is 
the expression of the will's determination. 2. Do 
not decrees possess within them the nature of 
laws? Most certainly, they do. Hence the com- 
mon saying concerning an absolute monarch, "His 
will is the law." Indeed, all laws are but the ex- 
pressions of the will. There are different modes 
in which God expresses Ms will. Concerning mat- 
ter simply, it is expressed in its attractions, affin- 
ities, and combinations ; respecting vegetation, his 
will is expressed in its germination, growth, and 
production ; regarding the mere animals, it is ex- 
pressed in their appetites and instincts. All these 
parts of creation, as before remarked, are con- 
trolled and governed by the absolute decree, will, 
or law, of God ; it is the law of their nature, nor 
can they by possibility counteract it. 

We next approach the being called man, placed 
by Deity in a still higher sphere, uniting within 
himself the animal and the rational, having en- 
stamped upon him the full image of God — of God 



FOREKNOWLEDGE AND DECREES. 117 

as a sovereign, and of God as a moral being. God 
as a sovereign impressed upon man's animal, or 
physical, nature his absolute will, or law, and made 
it the law of his animal nature — and that law de- 
velops itself in all man's varied natural appetites 
and instincts ; but upon his rational soul he im- 
pressed the image of his moral nature, which is 
the law of man's righteousness — "the law of the 
mind," "the law of the spirit of life," "the law 
of love;" all w 7 hich mean the same thing, and is 
the law of man's rational nature. Man, then, in 
his dual nature, exhibits the impress of two laws 
— the one, in his animal nature, developing itself 
in his natural instincts; the other, in his rational 
nature, developing itself in supreme love to God. 
This is the law to which Paul alludes when he 
says, " Love is the fulfilling of the law ; " this was 
the "law of the mind" so strongly opposed by the 
"law in his members," or the law of his animal 
nature. While man continued in his right condi- 
tion, the law of the mind chastened all his instinct- 
ive desires, and directed and kept them within 
their purely legitimate channels ; but when he 
sinned and fell, the moral image of God was lost, 
the law of his mind, or moral nature, dethroned, 
and the law of his animal nature, poisoned by sin, 
usurped the complete dominion over the soul as 
well as the body, and, to gratify its fleshly, sen- 
sual desires, and these desires transcending their 



118 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

legitimate boundaries, hurried man into the viola- 
tion of every precept growing out of God's moral 
law. When the apostle says "the carnal mind is 
enmity to God ; it is not subject to the law of 
God," he means the mind that is under the fleshly 
or corrupted and misdirected natural appetites and 
instincts of man's fallen nature ; the same is meant 
by "the body" which he said he "kept under" — 
not, however, that we are to understand that the 
mind, or soul, is an unwilling, though helpless, 
subject brought under the tyrannical control of the 
sin-polluted passions and desires of man's physical 
nature. His first sin was not negative, respecting 
his soul, but positive ; it consisted not merely in 
the loss of the divine image and leaving the soul, 
as it were, a blank, but the soul was morally de- 
praved in all its parts and powers, which disposed 
the soul to become the willing slave to the law of 
man's lower nature. 

The original impress of the absolute decree, 
will, or law, of God upon man's animal nature, 
and the impress of his moral image, or law, upon 
his rational and accountable nature, answer, re- 
spectively, to the absolute sovereignty and moral 
rectitude of God ; and since God, as an independ- 
ent free being, has set his own boundary, beyond 
which he will not carry his absolute decrees, or 
laws, he will bring under their control all those 
parts of his created universe which are in the 



FOREKNOWLEDGE AND DECREES. 119 

scale of existence below rationality and moral 
freedom. 

That Deity has limited his absolute decrees, or 
sovereignty, within this boundary is clearly evi- 
dent from the volume of nature as well as from 
divine revelation. When we look for proof of 
this fact in nature, we see from mere animals down 
to the inert stone governed by an absolute decree, 
or law, which we have before shown to be the law 
of necessity, or that of their nature; and when 
we look into the sacred Scriptures, we find rational, 
accountable man treated by Deity not as a beast 
or a stone, but as a rational free being, accounta- 
ble for his actions ; and as such God addresses 
him through the whole tenor of divine revelation. 
Reverently speaking (though with thorough con- 
viction), God himself could not merely by an ab- 
solute decree, or sovereign act of his will, save a 
sinner. Could he do so, what an awful mistake, 
and how palpably unnecessary, was it to give his 
only Son ! Why not have cut the matter short 
by publishing an absolute decree of universal am- 
nesty for the first sinner and his whole rebellious 
progeny, and so have avoided the sufferings and 
death of the Son of God ? In answer to this in- 
quiry, we say that God could not do so, simply 
because such absolute decree, or act of his will, 
would transcend the limits he has set to himself, 
beyond which he cannot carry such decrees, or 



120 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

sovereign acts of his will, since to do so would 
invade the territory of moral freedom which he 
has set apart and established in his own universe; 
and, as before remarked, the great mystery in 
which the decrees of God are involved is not the 
fault of God nor of his decrees, but of scholastic 
theologians who have ideally forced such decrees 
across the line of moral freedom and accountability, 
fixing, under those decrees, the eternal destiny of 
both angels and men — some to everlasting happi- 
ness, others to unending perdition. This doctrine 
being admitted, the mystery thence arises which 
we shall presently see. 

Is it not mysterious that God should create 
rational, morally free beings, holding them account- 
able to him, and at the same time govern them by 
the same absolute decrees, or laws, by which he 
governs the beasts that have no souls, or insensate 
matter, neither of which he holds accountable? 
Is it not mysterious that he should by a sovereign 
decree elect to life everlasting a part of the human 
race "without any foresight of faith or good works 
in them," and reprobate the rest to eternal death 
"for their sin," which he also decreed? Is it not 
mysterious how God in the great day, proceeding 
upon the principle of justice and moral propriety, 
shall reward the elect and punish the reprobate? 
Is it not shockingly mysterious that the absolute 
decree of election should invade the infantile part 



FOREKNOWLEDGE AND DECREES. 121 

of the world, dying in infancy, saving those of 
them that were eternally elected under that de- 
cree, and consign the non-elect to eternal misery? 
Here is the mystery, dark as midnight, in which 
men, by a false application of God's absolute de- 
crees, have enveloped them. 

In human governments it appears to be the 
common sense and the common instinct of man- 
kind to represent the two species of government 
by which Deity governs his universe. It is some- 
what remarkable that man controls by his absolute 
will the very same class of creation that God does 
by his absolute will — namely, animals, devoid of 
the reasoning faculty, vegetables, and mere mat- 
ter; but the moment the human ruler intrudes his 
sovereign will upon rational men, and by it under- 
takes to shape and fix their destiny, without their 
consent, that moment he becomes a despot, and 
"is unworthy to be the ruler of a free people;" 
disorder and confusion ensue; the common sense 
and moral instincts of men cry out against the 
despotism. In such circumstances not only re- 
monstrance, but rebellion, is thought justifiable. 
Among many others, take, for example, the Brit- 
ish Colonies of North America. Men sometimes 
must, but they seldom will, endure longer than 
the}' can avoid it the despot who makes his abso- 
lute decrees, or will, the law by which he governs; 
because he is then governing men in the same way 
6 



122 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

and by the same absolute laws by which he gov- 
erns his cattle, his dogs, his fruit-trees, and his 
farm; his subjects cry out, Oppression, injustice ! 
From this stand-point we clearly discover that the 
type of God's absolute government, upon the one 
hand, and that of his moral government, upon the 
other, adapted, respectively, to his irrational and 
rational parts of creation, are found among men, 
and are vindicated by the universal sense of justice 
and moral propriety. 

Note. — In endeavoring to discuss the much-per- 
plexed question of the divine decrees, we have been 
forced into repetitions and the use of many words, 
which all who have had experience know to be una- 
voidable in treating upon subjects of much intricacy. 



PAET VI.— MAN APPOINTED TO A 
NEW STATE OF TRIAL. 



The Power of Choice in Man. 

THE idea of a being endowed with the power 
of freely choosing whether to obey or disobey 
naturally suggests the farther idea that he be 
placed in a state of trial; or why is he endowed 
with the power of choice? Such choice may be 
made by a morally free being definitively, embrac- 
ing in it all futurity, or eternity, or it may be 
made without such definitiveness. Had man, in 
the exercise of his moral freedom, made a defini- 
tive and final choice of eternal allegiance to God, 
eternal life would doubtless have been secured to 
him, and he would have passed from his state of 
trial into a state of confirmation, of which the 
tree of life was no doubt a standing symbol; or, 
upon the other hand, had he made choice defini- 
tively and finally, embracing all futurity, or eter- 
nity, to renounce his allegiance to God and become 
a subject of the fallen prince of darkness, he would 
in like manner have passed from his probationary 
state into a confirmed one of sin and death, and 

(123) 



124 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

would have thus placed himself beyond the possi- 
bility of redemption. And we offer it only as a 
conjecture that such may have been the definitive 
and awful choice made by the fallen angels. But 
the choice of rebellion made by man may not have 
been of the same definitive final character, involv- 
ing all futurity. His volition, or choice, may have 
come short of this definitive finality, and which 
may have been owing to some heed he gave to the 
glittering sword, the symbol of justice, portending 
eternal death in case of such final choice ; and thus 
restrained from an unpardonable sin, a margin is left 
for redemption through a mediator. Was not the 
flaming sword a symbol of justice in the hand of 
the angel guarding the approaches to the tree of life 
—the symbol of a confirmed estate? and was it not 
the threatening thus symbolized before man's eyes 
that restrained his choice within such bounds as 
left his case, though wretched, not entirely des- 
perate and beyond the possibility of relief? 

If these suggestions are apposite, and spring 
from the subject under consideration, and from the 
circumstances connected with the fall as set forth 
in Genesis, we have gained a stand-point from 
which we may see an intelligent being endowed 
with moral freedom who, in the exercise of it, 
may make a choice comprehending endless dura- 
tion, and so place himself in a state of confirma- 
tion ; while another morally free being, from cer- 



man's new state of trial. 125 

tain considerations, or in view of danger, may 
make a free choice not so comprehensive and final, 
and which choice does not place him in a state of 
endless confirmation. Such may have been the 
choice of man, though, being morally free, he 
might have made that finally desperate choice, in 
spite of the previous warning of God and its glit- 
tering sanction, held in the hand of the sentinel- 
angel, flashing around the tree of life, the symbol 
of endless confirmation. 

The Fall of Man. 

Having in Part IV. endeavored to show 
the kind of government under which man was 
placed by his Creator, we shall not introduce a 
separate section on that subject. Created in the 
image of God, with the high prerogatives of free- 
dom of choice and full authority to govern the 
world of which he was now the ruler, he stood 
forth to the gaze of perhaps the whole intelligent 
universe as witnesses of the part he would act in 
regard to his allegiance to his adorable Creator. 
They had already witnessed one dire rebellion, 
and it may be it was transacted upon the same 
stage cursed on that account into profound chaos 
and darkness ; and what now will be the issue of 
this new being, created in the image of God? 
Will he, in the voluntary exercise of his moral 
freedom, make the definitive choice of eternal 



126 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

allegiance to the law of God, and so have access 
to the tree of life? or will he follow in the foot- 
steps of the rebel angels, who kept not their first 
estate? Alas! under the temptation of the wily 
serpent, he puts forth his hand, partakes of "the 
fruit whose mortal taste brought death into the 
world and all our woes." " By one man, sin en- 
tered into the world, and death by sin." He now 
lies in a state of moral ruin; a sinner, a trans- 
gressor of God's righteous law, he stands con- 
demned, guilty, and helpless ; the image of God 
effaced, his moral purity is gone, and his whole 
nature has become deeply, totally corrupted, so 
that " every thought of the imagination of his 
heart is only evil, and that continually." 

The sin of man consisted not only in disregard- 
ing the interdict which God placed upon the tree 
of knowledge, but also in setting aside the divine 
authority and becoming recreant to all moral ob- 
ligation. The declaration of the Apostle James 
is a fair exponent of the sin of man and its con- 
sequence : " When lust is conceived it bringeth 
forth sin, and when sin is finished it bringeth forth 
death." When the lust, or unlawful desire, was 
conceived in the heart of the first transgressor, 
his sin began, and was finished, in eating of the 
interdicted fruit, and brought forth death — death 
spiritual, death temporal, and, in the absence of 
some hand to deliver, death eternal. 



man's new state of trial. 127 

Having lost his purity, he lost his power; true, 
he retained his intellectual faculties, though much 
dwarfed and weakened. In this respect, he is 
represented as having eyes and seeing not, and as 
being blind and cannot see afar off. As a visible 
token of his degradation, he is stripped of his 
royal investiture, ejected from his palace-garden, 
and driven out as an exile upon the earth, cursed 
on his account, to toil and labor and subsist by 
the " sweat of his face." But this is not all ; he 
lost also his ability to good. Being altogether de- 
praved, considered in himself, apart from divine 
aid, he has no ability to will or to do any thing 
acceptable to God. Altogether averse to good, he 
is under an evil bias swaying him into a course of 
sin and rebellion. In this condition he is morally 
prostrate, prone to evil as matter is to the center 
of gravity. 

Viewing man from this stand-point, he cannot 
be considered, in the full sense of the term, a 
morally free agent. True, he is free to evil, be- 
cause he chooses it freely; but he is not free to 
good, because he does not, nor can he, choose it 
without aid outside of himself. In this respect 
he is dead — " dead in trespasses and sins." In 
this deplorable condition he was exposed to the 
infliction of the penalty of God's violated law, 
and but for the interposition of the Mediator, this 
penalty, in all its length and breadth, would have 



128 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

fallen upon him, "and so have ended the mortal 
story." 

We have said that man's choice in yielding to 
the tempter, in violation of the law of God, may 
have fallen short of a final decision of eternal hos- 
tility to the divine government. The choice he 
did make, however, obliterated from his soul the 
divine image, corrupted his moral nature, rendered 
him helpless, and laid him obnoxious to the fear- 
ful penalty due to his transgression. It must also 
have placed him in imminent danger, under farther 
Satanic influence, of taking another step, and of 
consummating his rebellion in the highest degree 
— Satan, perhaps, having left him only for a sea- 
son, as he did the second Adam in the "wilder- 
ness," to return again and renew his hellish seduc- 
tions. It is probable the tempter did not as yet 
know the precise nature of man's determination, 
or choice, which was not so definitive and final as 
he might have supposed; meanwhile, measures 
of the most impressive character were adopted by 
the Deity to warn him of the danger of carrying 
out his fatal choice into a final decision of eternal 
hostility to the government of God, and so placing 
himself in a state of endless confirmation in sin, 
and beyond the pale of redemption. The symbol 
of this awfully wretched condition may be found 
in the "tree of life," and of his terrible danger in 
the sentinel cherubim with flaming sword, warning 



man's new state op trial. 129 

him of the fatal consequence of such final decision, 
and threatening him with the execution of eternal 
justice should he obstinately persist and carry his 
choice to its awful finality, which, as a morally 
free being, he was fully capable of doing. 

May we not conclude that the above suggestions 
are sustained not only by the probabilities natu- 
rally arising out of the case, but also by their har- 
mony with the account in Gen. iii. 24: "So he 
drove out the man, and he placed at the east of 
the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword 
which turned every way to keep the way of the 
tree of life." This was done, as we see in a pre- 
ceding verse, "lest man should put forth his hand, 
take also and eat and live forever," or pass into a 
state of eternal confirmation in sin and rebellion. 
From these passages may we not justly conclude 
that in order to carry to completeness man's trans- 
gression, and to place him in a state of irredeem- 
able confirmation, two things were necessary : first, 
his free choice in violating the positive interdict 
of the "tree of knowledge;" second, extending 
that choice to completeness in determining to 
throw off forever his allegiance to the government 
of God, and so doing, he could have taken and 
eaten of the " tree of life," or have been confirmed 
in sin "and lived forever " in that state of confirma- 
tion. The analogy of all this is found among men 
in the new probation granted through Christ, the 
6* 



130 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

second Adam — confirmation in the favor of God, 
through faith in his Son, answering to confirmation 
in a state of holiness and happiness upon the part 
of Adam through a final choice of allegiance to 
God ; the " sin unto death," through unbelief in 
finally rejecting Christ, for which sin " there re- 
maineth no more sacrifice," answering to man's 
confirmed estate in sin and rebellion, had he finally 
renounced his fidelity to God ; and for this sin 
there could not have been any sacrifice offered or 
atonement made. 

It might be well here to remark that if it was 
then said to man, Do, and thou shalt live, it is noiv 
said, Believe, and thou shalt live ; if it was then 
said, If thou do not, thou shalt die, it is now said, 
If thou believe not, thou' shalt be damned ; if then 
the warning sword glittered in the hand of the 
guarding angel, " lest man should pass into a con- 
firmed estate of dire rebellion against God," there 
is now a sword — the word of God — of equal warn- 
ing, and of no less terrible flash and glitter in the 
hands of his messengers, which threatens the final 
rejecters of the Son of God with " a certain look- 
ing for of judgment and fiery indignation which 
shall devour the adversary." 

Remedy for Man's Sin. 

The remedy provided was ample and complete. 
Sometimes it is represented in the Scriptures as a 



man's new state of trial. 131 

feast — " a feast of fat things full of marrow, of 
wines on the lees well refined." Again, it is 
likened to a fountain — " a fountain opened in the 
house of King David for the washing of sin and 
uncleanness." And again, it is called the bread 
of life, the water of life — " Ho ! every one that 
thirsteth, come ye to the waters," and " Whosoever 
will, let him take the water of life freely." 

This remedy is completely adapted to the moral 
condition of man, fully and finally to relieve him 
of all his moral wants and woes. Is he a sinner 
against God? it offers him pardon; is his heart 
corrupt and unholy? it presents the means of 
purification ; is he beset with deadly foes on every 
hand ? it pledges final victory over them all ; has 
sin so degraded, sunk, and ruined his nature as to 
make him the very wreck of what once he was ? 
it proposes to restore to him the image of God, to 
raise him up to his lost dignity and honor and 
high prerogative as lord and governor of the world, 
and to exalt him to the full fruition of bliss forever. 

The medium through which this remedy was 
provided is the atonement made by Jesus Christ, 
the Mediator. This is the only medium; "there is 
no other name given under heaven among men by 
which we must be saved." This is the plan devel- 
oped and executed in the boundless love and 
mercy of God. God so loved the world that he 
gave his only Son. " He sent not his Son into 



132 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the world to condemn the world, but that the 
world through him might be saved." 

The first note of joy that broke across the moral 
wastes of earth was struck out from the promised 
seed of the woman. The first ray of light that 
shot athwart the regions of moral darkness and 
despair emanated from the light of that promise ; 
that is the light which lighteth every man that 
cometh into the world. 

Character of Christ. 

What think ye of Christ? A transcendently 
important interrogation; and no less an answer 
than that given by Peter will satisfy the question : 
" Thou art the Son of the living God." He is 
called the Christ as the anointed of God, and set 
apart to the great work of human redemption — 
" I have anointed thee with the oil of joy, above 
thy fellows." He is also called the Messiah, 
which signifies the sent of God. He is likewise 
styled the Son of man with special reference to 
his human nature — "He took not on him the nat- 
ure of angels, but the seed of Abraham." And 
he is designated the Son of God in regard to his 
miraculous conception as well as to the filial and 
perfect obedience that he should render in work- 
ing out redemption for man. God said of him, 
" Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee ; " 
and " as a Son " he learned obedience. And lastly, 



MAN'S NEW STA1E OF TRIAL. 133 

he is called the Word with respect to his eternal 
preexistence and the great work of universal cre- 
ation which he performed — "In the beginning was 
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the 
Word was God." "All things were made hy him, 
and without him there was not any thing made 
that was made." 

Christ as Man. 

The evidence that Christ possessed human nat- 
ure arises from several sources. 1. This was ne- 
cessitated by man's moral condition. As Christ 
had undertaken the great work of human salva- 
tion, and as this could not be accomplished by 
only substitutionally obeying and suffering in 
man's stead, it was indispensable that Christ 
should possess the same nature in which God's 
law was violated, in order to make an atonement ; 
for it -was not angels he came to redeem, or he 
would have taken on him their nature ; but this, 
we are told, he did not do, as Paul says, " For he 
took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed 
of Abraham." This was necessary, that satisfac- 
tion might be made in the same nature in which 
the divine law was violated ; and as it was human 
nature in which the law was transgressed, and 
was thereby become obnoxious to punishment, it 
was therefore necessary that if the claims of jus- 
tice be met they be met in the nature in which 



134: MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

those claims were disregarded and dishonored — - 
for in no other way could satisfaction be made ; 
hence, the necessity of the case required that 
Jesus Christ, in order to become a proper substi- 
tute in the eye of the violated law, should possess 
human nature. 2. The numerous developments 
made by Christ himself furnish evidence of his 
humanity. He was born of a virgin, was a child, 
a lad, a man. He wept, he rejoiced, he hungered 
and thirsted, ate and drank, he slept and awoke. 
He possessed all the passions, propensities, and 
appetites of our common humanity, but all in 
complete harmony with the moral rectitude of his 
holy nature. Hence, he could be tempted in all 
points, like as we are. In these characteristics of 
human nature may be found the great fountain of 
his tender sympathies, the deep yearnings of his 
bowels, the gushings of his tears and sorrows, the 
enduring solicitude of his heart for the rescue of 
the lost, the mountain-waves of affliction rolling 
over his soul in the blood-stained garden, and, 
finally, the embodiment of all in one pathetic 
prayer, when expiring on the cross, " Father, for- 
give them." Thus it becomes clearly evident that 
Jesus Christ possessed human nature. 3. The 
Scriptures also abound with positive testimony 
upon this subject. A very few out of many pas- 
sages may suffice. He is called by himself the 
" Son of man." " The Son of man came eating and 



man's new state of trial. 135 

drinking." " The Son of man must be betrayed." 
"A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me 
have." " He that denieth that Jesus Christ is 
come in the flesh is antichrist." 

The Redeemer of mankind possessed also a 
rational soul. In David's prophetic vision it is 
declared of him, ' ; Thou wilt not leave my soul in 
hell, nor suifer thy Holy One to see corruption;" 
and Jesus said of himself, " My soul is exceeding 
sorrowful." Nor need we, in order to sustain the 
moral purity of his nature, adopt the Romish 
dogma of the immaculate purity of his mother; 
for the scion may possess entirely different prop- 
erties and produce very different fruit from that 
of the stock upon which it is grafted. The orig- 
inal stock may in its original nature be bad, while 
the fruit of the scion grafted and grown upon it 
may be good. So in regard to Mary, the mother 
of Jesus : though depraved, in common with the 
race of man, she possessed all the properties and 
qualities necessary to constitute her a human be- 
ing; and as the mysterious, bad nature of the 
original stock ascends not into the noble scion 
grafted upon it, so as to corrupt its nature, so the 
moral corruption of the Virgin Mother entered not 
into the human nature of Christ so as in the slightest 
degree to corrupt it. Hence, Jesus Christ, though 
born of a depraved mother, was pure and holy, 
and therefore harmless and separate from sinners. 



136 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

We have now presented arguments sufficient to 
establish the doctrine of Christ's humanity, to 
which, however, we might add the facts of his 
tragical death, and the burial of his dead body in 
the tomb. 

Christ God as well as Man. 

In order to man's redemption, his moral condi- 
tion as fallen and helpless necessitated that the 
Redeemer should be divine as well as human. 

The question, "What think ye of Christ?" is 
of vast magnitude. An incorrect view of his char- 
acter would vitiate the whole scheme of human 
redemption. Ever since he appeared in the flesh, 
in infancy as well as in manhood, discrepant opin- 
ions have been entertained concerning him. Herod 
looked upon him as nothing more than a human 
being, and he concerted measures to take his life. 
So with a large majority of the Jews. The "mys- 
tery of godliness" was a great stumbling-block. 
The doctrine that Christ was God was highly dis- 
tasteful, and upon his setting up this claim, "they 
took up stones to stone him." There were some 
who acknowledged his Godhead, and as God adored 
and worshiped him. When he came to "his own," 
they received him not. The infidel, self-sufficient 
scribe and Pharisee rejected him as an impostor, 
while the wise men of the East, and Saul of Tar- 
sus, with many converted publicans and sinners, 
laid down at his feet their tribute of adoring hon- 



man's new state of trial. 137 

ors. Infidels in every age have derided him and 
scoffed at him as a deceiver, while the true Chris- 
tian Church have always, in every part of the 
world, adored him as God. And that Christ is 
God is what w T e now propose to establish. 

1. As above remarked, in order to man's re- 
demption, it was necessary that the Redeemer 
should be divine as well as human, and that this 
necessity arises from man's fallen and morally 
helpless condition. The law of God which he had 
violated was a just and holy law, and required 
satisfaction ; this man was totally unable to make 
for himself. The imprisoned insolvent debtor can- 
not meet the claims that are against him. What 
if the penalty of the violated law was death ? 
How, in that case, could the transgressor make 
satisfaction and redeem his life? He could die, 
and must die, but in dying life is gone. How, 
then, shall lie live who has forfeited his life by 
willful transgression? The Supreme Governor of 
all has one government for the w 7 hole intelligent 
universe : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." 
Against this government man set up rebellion. 
By that act he not only ruined himself, but dis- 
honored God. Contempt and dishonor are cast 
upon God's righteous law ; the justice of the law, 
emanating from the infinite justice of God, de- 
mands satisfaction. And besides this, as this di- 
vine rule of government is the delight of all the 



138 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

upright intelligent creation, and is therefore ac- 
knowledged by them to be most righteous and 
honorable, the universal sense of justice through- 
out God's moral dominions demands that the trans- 
gression shall be punished, and the dishonor cleared 
away from the law. This is illustrated among 
men in civil life. All law-abiding citizens, for the 
maintenance of law and order, peace and happi- 
ness, demand that the murderer and robber, as 
well as all violators of the law, shall make satis- 
faction. Could man satisfy the demands of the 
infinitely righteous law of God, take off the dishonor 
he had cast upon it, and thereby reinstate himself 
in life and in the favor of God ? To say that he 
could would be to say that the insolvent debtor 
could pay himself out of prison by liquidating the 
claims against him, or the murderer under sentence 
of death could meet and suffer the sentence and 
yet live. Hence, it is evident that man had no 
alternative within himself, and, left to himself, he 
must die, and die forever. He could not atone for 
himself. 

2. No created being could take man's place in 
law, die in his stead and satisfy injured justice, 
and give back to the law its due and sacred hon- 
ors. The sin of man, although it was perpetrated 
by a finite being, was a violation of the infinitely 
just and holy law of the infinite God ; and that 
sin, passed by with impunity and left to w T ork out 



MAN'S NEW STATE OF TRIAL. 139 

its final results, looked to the entire destruction 
of God's universal moral government. Hence, 
man's sin had in it a turpitude of infinite enor- 
mity. This being the case, the violated law re- 
quired a satisfaction of infinite value. Such sat- 
isfaction no created finite being could render 
without suffering to an infinite duration, or to all 
eternity. 

3. No created being is lord of his life ; he has 
no right to dispose it, and therefore, upon that 
ground, would be debarred from sacrificing it for 
another. "Ye are not your own." "Whether 
we live or die, we are the Lord's." 

From these considerations it becomes evident 
that in order to the redemption of man it was in- 
dispensable that the Redeemer should be divine 
as well as human, God as well as man, since 
nothing short of a satisfaction of infinite value 
could meet the claims of injured justice, restore 
the honors of the divine government, and open to 
man a way of reconciliation to God. 

The fallen and morally helpless condition of 
man, then, necessitated, in order to his redemption, 
that the Redeemer should be God as well as man. 
Answering to this necessity, we find his Godhead 
declared most decisively, by the prophets, by the 
evangelists, by himself, and by the apostles. 

1. The names, or appellatives, given to the 
Eternal Majesty of Heaven are also given to Jesus 



140 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Christ. The inspired prophet says, "Unto us a 
child is horn, a son is given ; and his name shall 
he called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, 
the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace." 
"Philip saith unto him, Shew us the Father and 
it suffice th us. He saith unto Philip, He that 
hath seen me, hath seen the Father also." " I 
and the Father are one." He is called " Emman- 
uel — God with us." John says, " In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and 
the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh 
and dwelt among us." And, speaking of Christ, 
it is declared, " This is the true God and Eternal 
Life." He is also called "God our Saviour." 
These, with numerous other passages of the Script- 
ures which might be adduced, show with what 
readiness the inspired writers attached to Christ 
the names and appellatives by which is understood 
and known the God of the universe. 

2. We find also that all the attributes and qual- 
ities essential to the nature of God are attributed 
to Christ. Is God self-existent? Christ declares 
himself to be the " I Am." He said to the Jews, 
" Before Abraham was, I am," which excludes all 
idea of dependence; and self-existence compre- 
hends eternity, for that which is self-existent 
could never have had a beginning. Hence, he is 
declared to have been " from of old, from ever- 
lasting." " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning 



man's new state of trial. 141 

and the ending" — from eternity to eternity. Is 
God omnipotent? "All power in heaven and in 
earth " resides in Jesus Christ. No created finite 
being could sway the arm of omnipotence; but 
Christ did this. The angels of heaven came at 
his call — so did Moses and Elias at his transfigura- 
tion. The winds and the seas calmed at his bid- 
ding, and devils saw, believed (in his power), and 
" trembled." He once said, " Let there be light, 
and there was light." On the cross he said, Let 
there be darkness, and there was darkness ; the 
earth shook, the rocks were rent, the graves were 
opened, and Satan fell as lightning from heaven. 
He had power of life and death, power to lay 
down his life and power to take it again. This he 
did : he laid down his life at the cross, he took it 
again at the grave. Will any say that the power 
of the Son of man and Son of God was delegated? 
What need or room for delegation, when the "full- 
ness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily?" Is 
God infinite in wisdom and knowledge? Peter 
answers the question: "Yea, Lord, thou knotvest 
all things." Is God omnipresent ? Christ said to 
his standard-bearers, " Lo I am with you alway, 
even to the end of the world." And if he is not 
omnipresent, how could he " be in the midst " of 
the tivos or threes gathered together at the same 
hour in all quarters of the earth, according to his 
promise ? Does God alone possess in himself the 



142 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

plenitude of independent life ? and is he the only 
being that can dispense life ? Christ says, " I am 
the way, the truth, and the lifer John says, "In 
him was life" Christ says, " I am the resurrec- 
tion and the life" He also dispenses life — life 
everlasting : " I give unto them eternal life, and 
they shall never perish." 

3. The works ascribed to God are also ascribed 
to Jesus Christ. In the first chapter of Genesis 
it is said, " In the beginning God created the 
heaven and the earth ; " and in a very great num- 
ber of other passages of the sacred writings God 
is declared to be the Creator of all things. But 
Paul, speaking of Christ, says, " For by him all 
things were created that are in heaven or that are 
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be 
thrones or dominions, principalities or powers : all 
things were created by him and for him." The 
work of providence belongs to God, who is de- 
clared to " rule in the armies of heaven and among 
the inhabitants of the earth ; " but Jesus Christ 
upholds and governs by his universal providence, 
for the apostle says, " By him all things consist." 

4. Is God to judge the world? The apostle 
declares it : " Ye are come unto God the Judge of^ 
all" Yet, the same apostle affirms that " all must 
appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." 

5. The worship due only to God is due to Christ. 
"Unto him every knee shall bow, and every tongue 



man's new state of trial. 143 

confess," even angels that excel in strength : "And 
let all the angels of God worship him." But 
Christ said, " It is written, Thou shalt worship 
the Lord thy GW, and him only shalt thou serve." 

Now, nothing of all we have said concerning 
the supreme divinity of Jesus Christ can be predi- 
cated of any other being, not even of the loftiest 
orders of created intelligence. Nothing of the 
adorable names and appellatives of the eternal 
Deity, nothing of the essential attributes possessed 
by him only, nothing of the works of creation and 
providence, nothing of divine worship and adora- 
tion authorized by the word of God to be ascribed 
to Christ, can be ascribed to any created intelli- 
gence, without blasphemy and idolatry. 

It has in all ages been the policy of the prince 
of darkness to traduce and, if possible, to lower 
the character of Christ. This will appear in no 
way strange when it is remembered that his mis- 
sion into the world was to found and build up a 
kingdom in the world adverse to his (Satan's), and 
finally to dethrone and eject him forever from the 
earth, and to take full possession and restore all 
tilings to their primeval beauty and glory — to 
reign as universal Lord and King forever. When 
these things are remembered, what wonder that 
Satan should rage, and vent all his spite and malice 
and envy upon Christ, his great rival ? And so 
it has come to pass, first of all, he tried upon 



144 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Christ, the second Adam, the same sinister method 
and brought into play the same hellish tactics by 
which he triumphed over the first. Meeting 
Christ in the wilderness, after making him two 
other propositions (compliance with either of which 
would have demolished Christ's kingdom), from 
the top of a high mountain he " showed him all 
the kingdoms of the world and the glory, of them." 
"All these," said he, " I will give thee, if thou 
w T ilt fall down and worship me." Here was an at- 
tempt to degrade the character of Christ and to 
exalt his own. For ages past there had been 
signs and indications in the moral heavens, and 
especially the omens of recent date, well calcu- 
lated to impress him with the fear that this Christ 
was destined at some future day to universal do- 
minion, but that if he should ever come to the 
throne of universal empire it should be through 
many sore conflicts and great expenditure of blood 
and treasure ; but now, to cut the matter short, 
and to avoid all farther difficulties, one single act 
will bring thee to the throne of dominion over all 
the world: just "fall down and worship me," and 
thou shalt have it all. What a devilish snare ! 
Had Christ worshiped him it would at once have 
exalted him to the supremacy, and left Christ to 
reign (if at all) only as Satan's vicegerent. To 
lower the character of Christ and exalt and make 
a god of something else has ever been the policy 



man's new state of trial. . 145 

of Satan and of those under his control. This 
was the aim of his wily adversary when he met 
him in the wilderness ; and so with the infidel 
world. Infidelity admits many modifications, but, 
modified as it may be, it is still infidelity. Some 
cry out, " Impostor, deceiver ! " others say, " He 
is well-meaning, but a visionary ; " others, again, 
raising him a little higher, admit that he was nob 
only a good, sincere, and honest man, but that he 
was a great man, and taught most excellent morals 
— still, he was but a man, and was an enthusiast, 
fancifully, though honestly, supposing himself di- 
vinely inspired ; and, lastly, we come to the infi- 
delity of the most yielding and liberal, though of 
the most insidious, sinister, and dangerous, charac- 
ter. This species of skepticism has crossed the 
threshold into the visible Church, and has assumed 
the imposing name of Christian. They of this 
class affect to believe, in some sense, that Jesus 
Christ is the Son of God ; that in the scale of in- 
telligent beings he stands, in dignity and glory, 
next to God ; that he was endowed with great 
wisdom and power, and sent into the" world with 
a message of reconciliation to proclaim to man- 
kind that God was willing to receive them back, 
though rebels, into his favor, and yet make them 
happy forever — and, to this end, all that is re- 
quired is reformation of life, confession of Christ, 
and attention to the ordinances of the gospel ; but 
7 



146 * MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

still, they hold Christ to be a created being, and, 
by consequence, deny his supreme divinity. From 
this species of infidelity you may descend in the 
scale down to downright atheism. 

Infidels of every hue — the deists of France, 
Germany, England, America, and everywhere else 
— have had a special quarrel with the doctrine of 
Christ's supreme divinity. Against it they have 
leveled their heaviest artillery; and there is no 
better proof of concert with Satan than the denial 
of this Christian tenet, for it is certainly the policy 
of Satan by all possible means to lessen the dig- 
nity and glory of Christ, his formidable rival. No 
wonder that he and his co-workers have opened 
their batteries and spent their force against this 
fundamental doctrine, since it underlies the whole 
superstructure of the Christian system. But the 
Lord of lords and King of kings has triumphantly 
maintained, and still maintains, his claims to his' 
glorious Godhead; and his Church, upon the im- 
pregnable foundation of the prophets and apostles, 
unmoved, stands firmly against all the assaults of 
the gates of hell. The leaguered hosts of devils 
and godless men shall rage in vain : the God-man 
will and " must reign." His infinite wisdom, 
power, and justice shall ever triumph over the 
consummate treachery and hell-born tactics of his 
adversaries. He is still with his Church, dispens- 
ing light and life eternal. He is that "Most 



man's new state of trial. - 147 

Mighty" who, with girded-on " sword/' will ride 
forth to certain and final victory. 

After all, it is impossible to give a rational and 
satisfactory interpretation to a great portion of the 
inspired writings upon any other hypothesis than 
that which acknowledges the divine as well as the 
human nature of Christ. Indeed, under any other 
view of the subject the Scriptures cannot be rec- 
onciled with themselves. Jehovah said to the 
Son, "Thy throne, God, is forever and ever," 
and the next moment says to him, " Thou art my 
Son, this day have I begotten thee." How could 
he be God upon his eternal throne and yet be be- 
gotten of God in any other conceivable sense than 
that of his divine and human nature ? Is it not 
the union of these two natures in the person of 
Christ that constitutes the very " mystery of god- 
liness ? " For the moment you simplify the char- 
acter of Christ, and make of him a mere man, the 
" mystery " vanishes, and Paul stands convicted of 
using language that has no determinate meaning, 
and which is calculated to bewilder and mislead 
the minds of men. Again, how could he be the 
Creator and Upholder of all things, " whether 
things in heaven or things in earth," and yet be 
"made of woman, made under the law"- — born 
amongst men in time? or, how could the Word 
who, as declared by John, u was God" be made 
flesh ? or, how and in what acceptable sense could 



148 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

he be on earth talking with men and at the same 
moment be " in heaven ? " These, with many- 
other passages of a kindred nature, are absolutely 
irreconcilable, except upon the ground that in the 
person of the Mediator were united two natures, 
human and divine. Here, then, is Paul's great 
mystery of godliness — God manifested in the 
flesh; not only "great," but glorious. "This 
is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our 
eyes." Is not man an enigma, a mystery, to him- 
self? has he not for six thousand years sought in 
vain to solve it ? and to-day, though it may hum- 
ble his boasted reason, may he not confess, and 
say with one of old, " Such knowledge is too won- 
derful for me ; I cannot attain unto it." But are 
the wisdom, power, and goodness of God displayed 
in the mysterious union of the physical, mental, 
and moral principles in the person of man? Then, 
to what greater extent and in how much more 
striking a light are these attributes displayed in 
the mysterious union of the divine and human 
natures in the person of Christ ! This is more 
clearly evident when we remember that this won- 
derful union had for its object not only the amelio- 
ration of man's physical, mental, and moral con- 
dition in this life, but also to elevate him to eternal 
happiness in the life to come. 

The question, above all others in point of im- 
portance, now pertinently comes up, "What think 



man's new state of trial. 149 

you of Christ?" We give Paul's answer: "God 
manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen 
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on 
in the world, received up into glory." 

The two natures of Christ are distinct the one 
from the other, mysteriously united, without mix- 
ture or confusion. By the union of the manho.od 
and Godhead in Christ is constituted the Mediator 
between God and men. As God, he is declared 
to be the " Creator of all things^ " as man, his 
" soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." 
As God, "in him all fullness dwells, even the full- 
ness of the Godhead " — all the infinite, incommu- 
nicable attributes of the uncreated Jehovah ; as 
man, he was the " seed " of Abraham, in the form 
of a servant — "made himself no reputation, poor, 
despised, set at naught, condemned, bruised, and 
broken upon the cross." And as God-man, he 
made full atonement for the sins of the world, 
magnified and made honorable God's dishonored 
law, and ever liveth to make intercession. The 
great atonement meets the claims of injured jus- 
tice, vindicates the honor and majesty of the di- 
vine government, and opens the way of renewed 
intercommunion between earth and heaven. It 
also meets the moral condition of man at all its 
needy points, and, with man's consent, it insures 
him life from death and " life more abundantly." 



150 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

The Atonement by Christ. 

Atonement means satisfaction, reconciliation. 
Man had rebelled against the government of God, 
cast indignity upon his just and righteous law, 
declaring by his conduct that it was unworthy of 
observance, and that he disregarded the conse- 
quences resulting from its violation. Thus a trans- 
gressor, he was obnoxious to the terrible death 
and consequent miseries, in all their breadth and 
depth, of which the Divine goodness had given 
him a sufficient forewarning; but just here the 
Divine compassion came to his rescue: "God so 
loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten 
Son." And the Son came to make an atonement, 
to effect a reconciliation, to bring man back to God. 
"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto 
himself." 

All the altar-sacrifices of birds and beasts offered 
by the Jewish priesthood shadowed forth and sig- 
nified the "one offering of Christ, to put away sin 
by the sacrifice of himself." The unblemished 
lamb of the passoverwas a forcible typical preacher, 
saying to the people, Look through me away to 
the cross of Calvary and "behold the Lamb of 
God that taketh away the sin of the world." The 
blood of bulls and of goats could only cleanse 
from sins typically, never actually and really; 
only the blood of Christ could. The self-offered 



man's new state of trial. 151 

blood of the sinner himself would have been but 
the blood of a common man and a self-murderer. 
Would this atone for sin and satisfy the demands of 
justice — not justice in any limited or narrow sense, 
but in its most extended and comprehensive sense, 
wherever it is revered as the standard of loyalty 
and concord throughout the intelligent universe? 
The very principle, then, of universal justice has 
been outraged and set at naught by man, introduc- 
ing into God's great family of upright beings dis- 
order and confusion. And does not the sense of 
common and universal justice, as well as the jus- 
tice of God, demand satisfaction? But this is not 
all. What does human society say of the burglar 
who has broken into a neighbor's house and stolen 
his money? They say if such crimes are suffered 
to be perpetrated with impunity, confusion and 
ruin must ensue. The laws that we revere and 
honor he despises and tramples under foot; the 
bulwark of our social security and happiness he 
throws down. The good of society and their 
sense of justice demand satisfaction ; so with God's 
entire family of intelligent beings. The demand, 
then, is universal. The sin that necessitates such 
a demand must be of immense magnitude. The 
law that man violated is infinite — not in its re- 
quirements, but in its moral rectitude ; it requires, 
and the spirit of universal justice requires (and 
why not say it?), an in&nite satisfaction. This 



152 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

demand man could not meet only by suffering 
eternally; to meet this demand to its full satisfac- 
tion in a limited time is the great problem. If 
the satisfaction demanded by justice was only 
finite, why not a finite being satisfy? why call 
from the throne of heaven the eternal Logos, "the 
Word that was with God and was God," to come 
down to the dark abode of sin to render satisfac- 
tion? So sure as the "Word was God," as "God 
was in Christ," as "God was manifested in the 
flesh," so sure is it that the satisfaction required 
was an infinite satisfaction; otherwise, there was 
no proportion between the satisfaction required 
and the sacrifice offered, and there was an unnec- 
essary expenditure of dignity, and honor, and 
glory, and life, in the satisfaction rendered. But 
it was indispensable to the atonement for man's 
sin, and to the vindication of the honor and ex- 
altation of God's righteous law, that Christ should 
be God as well as man. Christ was "God mani- 
fested in the flesh," and fully met the necessity of 
the case; he made full atonement, out of which 
comes reconciliation. The atonement made by 
the Son meets the divine approval of the Father. 
This is attested by the voice from heaven : 
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am ivell 
pleased." 

Universal justice and all righteous beings are 
now content, and angels may prepare, with harp in 



man's new state of trial. 153 

hand, to strike a new note of joy over repentant 
sinners reconciled to God. 

The Atonement — Its Value. 

Upon this subject we have already made some 
remarks. It is a subject, however, that is inex- 
haustible, because it is infinite. 

The violated law whose claims against man 
were met and satisfied in the person of the God- 
man Mediator was in its nature infinitely just and 
holy, and a no less satisfaction than one of infinite 
value could cancel its claims and restore its injured 
honors. Although the law required of man nothing 
more than he was able to perform — because it was 
infinitely good as well as just — yet, for this very 
reason, and because the act of violation inaugurated 
rebellion against the authority of the God of the 
universe, it contains in it a turpitude of infinite 
enormity. To expiate this sin, and all others re- 
sulting from it, violative of the same supreme au- 
thority, required a sacrifice in value commensurate 
with the enormity of man's sin and the unlimited 
dignity of the divine authority. And to these 
considerations we may add that as the atonement 
was designed to lay a just ground for man's eter- 
nal release from sin and its consequent miseries, 
and to secure to him happiness of eternal duration, 
it was indispensable that that atonement should 

be of immense, even of infinite, value. Such 

7* 



154 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

atonement is found in the sufferings and death of 
Jesus Christ. 

The transactions of the cross were of infinite 
magnitude. The law of God was the supreme 
government of the intelligent universe. Shall 
that be violated with impunity? shall God do 
nothing to vindicate the justice and honor of his 
law? The penal side of justice required the pun- 
ishment of the transgressor, and so it might have 
met its claims ; but this would have doomed man 
to eternal misery. The penalty due to the sinner 
was not inflicted ; it was diverted to another vic- 
tim. Infinite love has found an expedient, and 
that expedient has its full interpretation in the 
cross. " God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on 
him should not perish, but have eternal life." The 
atonement made by the Son of God comprehended 
two immeasurably high objects : to make the sal- 
vation of man possible, and the vindication of the 
honor of the divine government, dishonored by 
man. Both of these objects were absolutely ac- 
complished. -In reference to man's possible salva- 
tion, we learn that God sent not his Son into the 
world to condemn the world, but that the world 
through him might be saved. Through the obedi- 
ence and death of Jesus Christ is made possible 
man's salvation, and through the very same means 
is the eternal seal of honor stamped upon the law 



man's new state of trial. 155 

of God. As before said, these two great objects 
were had in view by the atonement ; and the res- 
toration of the honor and glory of the divine gov- 
ernment is the necessary result of making possible 
the salvation of man. These great ends were 
fully and absolutely attained through the atone- 
ment, without the concurrence of man — nay, in 
spite of his non-concurrence, since the entire plan 
was beyond the range of either his perverted rea- 
son or his fallen hopes. 

It has been suggested by some that if all are 
not saved for whom the Saviour died, then he shed 
his blood in vain. This is quite an error ; for if 
not a single one of Adam's race should be saved, 
yet the atonement by the Son of God is by no 
means a failure, since, as we have already seen, 
two high objects of the atonement have been se- 
cured : the possible salvation of man, and the 
honor and glory of the dishonored law fully vin- 
dicated; and all this irrespective of men's personal 
acceptance of the possible salvation. Just here 
we come to view the atonement, in regard to its 
personal application, under two distinct points of 
view — the following: 1. The Son of God was 
" sent into the world that the world through him 
might be saved," though all men should choose to 
reject the absolutely possible salvation which is 
freely offered to them. 2. God gave his only Son, 
that whosoever believeth on him, or receives the 



156 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

possible salvation, "should" absolutely be saved. 
Under the first aspect, we see salvation provided 
for the " world " without including its personal ac- 
ceptance through faith in Christ ; under the second 
aspect, we see salvation provided for the world 
including its personal acceptance through faith, 
" that whosoever believeth on him " shoidd as abso- 
lutely be saved. as salvation is made absolutely 
possible. "Might" or possibility, is in the one 
aspect; "should" or absolute certainty, is in the 
other. 

Another object, of no less importance than the 
foregoing, was also embraced in the atonement — 
its personal application for the eternal deliverance 
from sin and all its fearful consequences. The at- 
tainment of this object is conditioned, on the side 
of men, upon faith, or their free heart-acceptance 
of the provided and freely offered salvation. By 
the obedience and death of Christ the two objects 
first named could be, and were, absolutely secured 
without man's consent or the concurrence of his 
will, and that without any violation of the divinely 
chartered rights of his manhood. But in regard 
to the other and third object of the atonement — 
namely, the personal application of the atonement 
for the pardon of sin and acceptance with God — 
the case is different. Man's moral freedom is here 
consulted. To force men into an acceptance of 
the provided salvation would break down their 



man's new state of trial. 157 

moral constitution and destroy their moral liberty. 
Speaking reverently, " Omnipotence itself cannot 
force hearts." And it is " with the heart that man 
believes." But Infinite Knowledge foresaw that 
Christ would be heart-elected by a numerous 
" seed to serve him," and hence the prophet was 
inspired to predict it. 

Full and everlasting salvation of both soul and 
body, with all the means subordinate to that end, 
is amply provided for in the atonement made by 
the Son of God and Son of man; and as "God so 
loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten 
Son," the atonement, in its gracious provisions, is 
as wide as the world, deep as the lowest depths 
of human guilt, and as high as the immortality 
and joys of heaven. e 

When we behold so great a nature as God in- 
carnate w T eeping blood, and hear the deep, loud, 
long waitings of a suffering and dying Spirit, strug- 
gling with the desert of sin, we need go no farther 
than to the cross to find the interpretation-value 
of the atonement. The cross of Christ, the God- 
man, reckons it all up, and presents the sum in its 
unique value, and that value is expressed by one 
word, whose depth of meaning cannot be sounded 
by the line of human thought, and that one word 
is — infinite. 

A difficulty has been suggested as growing out 
of the doctrine of the vicarious sufferings and 



158 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

death of Christ for all mankind. It is contended 
that all for whom he made vicarious satisfaction to 
divine justice must, necessarily, be released from 
punishment; and, by consequence, if Christ died 
and atoned for all men, all will be released from 
punishment, and be saved. This difficulty is more 
specious than solid. It will not be denied that in 
order to the pardon of sin atonement is indispensa- 
ble. This must be made by the transgressor in 
his own proper person, or then by a voluntary 
substitute. The sinner might offer up his own 
life a sacrifice for the sin of his soul; but this 
would be suicide, and suicide is not atonement. 
The same may be said with regard to any of his 
fellows. In the wide universe there is one only 
th#t could atone for the sins of others, and that 
one is the God-man, Christ Jesus. "There is no 
other name given under heaven." Now, since the 
sinner has no atonement of his own to plead as 
the ground of his pardon, he must in some way 
make the atonement of Christ, voluntarily made 
for the sins of the world, his own, and plead it as 
the ground of his pardon; otherwise, the atone- 
ment made by Christ for the sins of mankind 
would be to him, in his personal individuality, 
nothing more than an abstract satisfaction to the 
spirit of universal justice and its necessary re- 
quirements — indispensable, indeed, in order to 
man's possible salvation; but to prove effectual to 



MAN'S NEW STATE OP TRIAL. 159 

personal* salvation, it must be personally appropri- 
ated. It was good news, glad tidings, circulated 
among the hungry and suffering Egyptians, that 
their king, through Joseph, a type of Christ, had 
made ample provision for them all — that his gran- 
aries were full of corn, enough for every one, and 
that each and all might obtain a supply. Here 
was their possible salvation from starving, But, 
to derive its saving benefits, the corn must be per- 
sonally appropriated; otherwise, the provision made 
through Joseph passes not beyond the line of the 
individual's possible salvation from starving. The 
corn must be appropriated — eaten personally, or 
then he must starve, though within reach of plenty. 
Here we get the key fully to interpret the saying 
of Christ, " Except ye eat his flesh and drink his 
blood, ye have no life in you." Eating and drink- 
ing is certainly a personal affair, which brings us 
back to the provisional atonement of Christ for 
the sins of the world. That atonement must be 
personally received and relied upon for life. And 
when it is received and heartily and solely relied 
upon, it is imputed to and made over to that per- 
son, and thus becomes, not in a carnal, but in a 
spiritual sense, his own atonement for the pardon 
of sin. While penning the lines of this page, we 
are, now and again, thinking of faith. Whatever 
definition men may give of faith, it is indispensa- 
ble to personal salvation. " He that believeth not 



160 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

shall be damned." Paul says, " Faith is the sub- 
stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things 
not seen." What is the substance of faith, not 
merely of the head or mind, but of the heart? 
Certainly — Christ. What is the evidence of 
things not seen? It is the consciousness of our 
own spirit conjoined with the witness of the Spirit 
of God that we have in our heart the invisible 
Christ. " Blessed are they that believe and have 
not seen." This is the way Christ comes to be in 
the believer — in his heart — the very seat of spir- 
itual life, because it is the faith of the heart, and 
Christ is the substance of faith. " If Christ be in 
you, the body is dead." "Know ye not that Jesus 
Christ is in you?" If Jesus Christ is in you, he is 
yours; and with him you have his atonement, his 
righteousness. Hence, Jeremiah calls him, "The 
Lord our righteousness." Hence, too, Paul says, 
"Faith is imputed for righteousness," because Christ 
is its substance. Here, too, we get a clue to w T hat is 
meant by "the righteousness of faith," and of Christ 
being "formed in the heart" — a spiritual formation 
really in the heart of the believer. That is a substan- 
tive form, and is the substance of faith. That Jesus is 
the Saviourof all men, and, therefore, the Saviour of 
me, is but alogical deduction from the historical state- 
ment; but that he is my Saviour especially, is the lan- 
guage of the faith of the heart, and is a conscious 
reality. From Paul's interpretation of faith, we are 



man's hew state of trial. 161 

guarded against the dangerous error of so humanizing 
it as to substitute faith or belief merely speculative for 
the faith which is a personal reception of the atone- 
ment of Christ in the heart, which accords with 
what the apostle says, speaking of Christ, " By 
whom we have now received the atonement!' Thus 
we have worked our way round to the question 
of difficulty, that if the atonement was made for 
all the world, whether all the world will not nec- 
essarily be saved ? We have given the negative 
to this question, with our reasons, which we think 
fully and clearly obviate the difficulty. 

Calvinistic View of the Atonement. 

Calvinists teach the doctrine of a limited atone- 
ment — that Christ did not die for all mankind — 
that he atoned for those only who, from eternity, 
were elected to life everlasting, and that their num- 
ber is so definite and certain, that it can neither 
be added to nor diminished; and that the rest of 
mankind were " passed by, and ordained to wrath." 
Hence, they restrict the atonement of Christ to 
the number of the elect, and hold that all these, 
through the purchase of his death, will, in God's 
own good time and way, be effectually called and 
infallibly saved. 

That the doctrine of election is taught in the 
Scriptures, all must admit ; but whether the elec- 
tion spoken of in the Bible is the eternal election 



162 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

of a part of the human race to eternal life is the 
question, of which, from the deepest convictions, 
we are compelled to take the negative side. As 
the doctrine of a limited atonement is regarded 
by them as being founded in election, and cannot 
be extended beyond its boundaries, it becomes of 
some importance that we pay some attention to 
the claims of the doctrine as being supported by 
the Scriptures of truth. Election, as spoken of 
in the Bible, has several applications. Sometimes 
it is applied to individuals, sometimes to a set, or 
company of persons, and again to whole nations, 
and lastly, to the children of God. The great 
business of the student of the Bible is to under- 
stand and rightly apply what it teaches. To ap- 
ply what is said of God's choosing, or electing, 
some particular person, or a definite number of 
persons, to a whole nation, would be wresting the 
Scriptures. And we are persuaded that the por- 
tions of Scripture relied upon as favoring the 
tenet of the eternal foreordination, or election, of 
a definite number of mankind to life everlasting 
have been misapplied. True, God chose and 
raised up Pharaoh, that he might show his power 
in him. In a similar sense, Moses was chosen, or 
elected, a leader of the Hebrews out of Egypt to 
the borders of Canaan — the whole Hebrew nation 
to preserve the oracles and worship of God. The 
followers of Christ are also elected, and their elec- 



man's new state of trial. 163 

tion is said to be " through sanctification of the 
Spirit and belief of the truth." We might also 
mention a number of other instances of particular 
cases, such as Cyrus, the Medo-Persian, chosen 
before he was born to deliver the Jews from their 
captivity in Babylon. The prophets and apostles 
also were divinely appointed, or elected. But 
none of these elections meets the case of the eter- 
nal election of men to their personal salvation, and 
thus unchangeably fixing their everlasting destiny. 
The election of all true believers in Christ, though 
unto life eternal, takes place only with their con- 
current consent in the exercise of their moral 
freedom ; whereas, those other elections which 
do not fix the everlasting destiny of men with re- 
spect to their happiness or misery may be made 
ivithout consulting their moral free agency. And 
let it be noted, this is the election which results 
from the free and independent sovereignty of God; 
but such election, decree, or predestination, does 
not embrace an appointment to eternal life or 
death of intelligent beings endowed with moral 
freedom without their free and uncoerced consent. 
In regard to this question, there are three things 
which we cheerfully grant : First, God is a sover- 
eign ; secondly, man is his creature ; thirdly, God, 
as a sovereign, has the right to do as he pleases with 
his own. But what does God plense to do with 
man, his own creature? Did it please him to 



164 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

make man, in rank and dignity, different from all 
the other parts of lower creation, and yet govern 
and treat him as he does the lower creation ? Has 
God endowed him with moral capacity to choose 
freely his own eternal destiny either for life or 
death, and yet does God, as a sovereign, please to 
interpose his sovereign will, and, without regard to 
his moral capacity, with which he endowed him, 
unchangeably fix his destiny? To say that God, 
as a sovereign, so pleases to do with man, is to 
say that God acts inconsistently ; for doing this 
way with man lets man down, or rather puts him 
down, upon a level with the lower creation, ignor- 
ing at the same time his moral freedom. But God 
does not please to do with and treat man in this 
way. If he has created him with the noble fac- 
ulty of choosing his own destiny for either life or 
death, he will not, regardless of man's power of 
choice, step in and arbitrarily choose for him, and 
thus determine man's eternal destiny for happi- 
ness or misery; but he is pleased to leave man to 
choose for himself, meanwhile holding him ac- 
countable for the use he makes of his liberty of 
choice, either of good or evil. If he choose the 
good, which is his paramount duty, it leaves a 
margin for his reward ; but if the evil, he is justly 
punished. 

From this view of the subject, we come to the 
conclusion that Deity has not from eternity chosen, 



man's new state of trial. 165 

decreed, or elected, to life any part of the human 
race, nor chosen or passed by and ordained any to 
death. And since it would be impossible for any 
of God's eternal decrees to fail, so it would be 
impossible for man, by any exercise of choice, to 
change his destiny thus bound up in an eternal 
decree. And the sum of the whole is this, that 
if man cannot possibly change his destiny by a 
choice of his own, he is no moral free agent ; and 
a state of probation or trial upon his part would 
be but a sham, since it would be impossible for him 
to choose any other destiny than the one eternally 
decreed. This unavoidably wipes out every stain 
of guilt from the soul of man, and throws the 
whole burden of responsibility upon man's Creator. 
The doctrine, then, that God has eternally de- 
creed to save a part only of Adam's race, and 
damn the rest, contradicts the doctrine of man's 
moral freedom; and if man is not morally free, 
we bid a final adieu to all hope of arriving at any 
just and satisfactory knowledge of either the 
character of God or man, and also to all justifi- 
able views of moral propriety in the distribution 
of future rewards and punishments. The Bible is 
henceforth a book hermetically sealed. But we 
bless the name of our God that there was one 
(and none else could), and that one prevailed, to 
loose the seals and open the Book. We see him 
upon the cross. We hear him crying from the 



166 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

deepest depth of his loving, bleeding heart, "It 
is finished." " He tasted death for every man ;" 
" He gave himself a ransom for all ;" He is " the 
Saviour of all men" — "the propitiation for the 
sins of the whole world." " Look unto me, and 
be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth ; for I am 
God, and there is none else." 

The student of theology is necessitated to make 
an election between two contradictory proposi- 
tions : first, that Grod has, by an absolute, eternal 
decree, unchangeably fixed the destiny of the 
whole human race, electing, or ordaining, a part to 
eternal life, "passing by the rest, and ordaining 
them to wrath." Secondly, man, as an intelligent, 
accountable being, is morally free to choose his 
own destiny. We have shown, as we think, suffi- 
ciently clearly in the preceding argument that these 
propositions are contradictory ; and as two propo- 
sitions, contradicting each other, cannot both be 
true, we must adopt that as true which has in its 
favor the greatest weight of evidence least liable 
to objections ; and which, when carried to its ulti- 
mate results, ends in the more reasonable and 
happy consequences. Let us try these proposi- 
tions. 

If the doctrine of eternal election and reproba- 
tion is true, that of man's moral freedom is false, 
he having, by possibility, no power of choice to 
change or alter his destiny. It also follows, as a 



man's new state of trial. 167 

sequence, that Jesus Christ atoned for a part only 
of the human race, and that all for whom he 
atoned will, when God sovereignly wills it, with- 
out condition upon their part, be effectually called 
and finally saved ; that those who were not 
elected to life were ordained to death, and, not 
having the liberty of free choice to change their 
destiny, they are doomed to suffer unavoidably 
eternal misery for the sin of their first father, im- 
puted to them and for their own sins, which nat- 
urally flow from their sinful nature, all which it 
was impossible for them to prevent. And farther, 
the doctrine of the foreordination of all things 
whatsoever that come to pass, teaches that Deity 
decreed that the fallen angels should sin — that one 
of the damned spirits should tempt man, and that 
man should sin. It teaches, farther, that it was 
also foreordained that even the elect, for whose 
salvation full provision is made, should, for a time 
— some for a shorter and some for a longer time — 
live in the practice of sin until he, in his own time 
and way, should, by a sovereign process, effectu- 
ally call and regenerate them, which process they 
have no more power of choice to prevent than to 
change their eternal destiny; and that all the sins, 
from the first committed by the devil and his an- 
gels, including the sin in Eden, and all the sins 
perpetrated by reprobates in time and eternity, 
were decreed. And this is not all, but that all 



168 . MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the distress and misery, war and bloodshed, dev- 
astation and ruin, consequent upon sin, and 
the unspeakable torments of untold millions of 
angels and men called reprobate, "suffering the 
vengeance of eternal fire," were also unchangeably 
decreed. What an awful picture does this pre- 
sent of the character of God ! The God who 
" hates evil," but has decreed all evil ; who has 
" no pleasure in the death of any," but has fore- 
ordained the death of all who die the second 
death ; who says to the reprobates, "Why will ye 
die ? " when he knows at the same time that his 
unchangeable decree has rendered it impossible 
for them to obtain life ; who says, " Choose ye 
this day whom ye will serve," when he knows 
that their power of choosing to serve him is im- 
possible, unless his unchangeable decree dooming 
them to death should fail ; and as it is impossible 
for his decrees to fail, it is, therefore, impossible 
for them to choose to serve him, and hence they 
have no free choice, but must, of fatal necessity, 
submit to their dreadful doom. These are some 
of the consequences resulting from the doctrine 
of the election, or foreordination, of all things, in- 
cluding a definite number of mankind, to life ever- 
lasting, passing by and ordaining the rest to death 
eternal, for whom there was no atonement made. 
We might add other consequences, such as the 
difficulty of comprehending how God could reward 



man's new state of trial. 169 

the elect, whose salvation and good works merely 
fulfilled an eternal decree, which they could not 
possibly avoid, and the moral propriety (not to 
say justice) of punishing the reprobates for not 
accepting salvation in Christ, since no salvation in 
Christ was provided for them ; or for not obeying 
the call of God to repentance and faith, since be- 
ing excluded from the limited atonement, God 
knew they could not, nor did he design that they 
should, obey when he did call them. These, and 
other like insurmountable difficulties, legitimately 
work themselves out, or are clearly deducible from 
the doctrine of eternal election of a part only of 
mankind to life, and its cognate, a limited atone- 
ment. 

But on the other hand, admitting the truth of 
the proposition that man is endowed with moral 
freedom to choose his own destiny, and the ad- 
mission strikes down at once the dogma that this 
one shall be saved because he was elected to life, 
or that one damned because he was reprobated to 
death, and the doctrine that a definite number of 
mankind were elected to life is proved to be false, 
and that of a limited atonement, which is founded 
upon such election, is also proved to be false. 

Thus far the sky begins to clear itself of those 
dark shadows cast upon the divine glory, dimming 
its luster by the awful doctrine that God did un- 
changeably foreordain all the sins of the universe, 
8 



170 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

and all their consequent miseries and torments in 
this world and the world to come. 

With the truth of the proposition that man is 
morally free to choose either life or death, which 
are declared to be set before him, we can satisfac- 
torily interpret the conduct of Deity in rewarding 
the righteous and punishing the wicked. To the 
former, with the utmost propriety, he can say, 
" Well done, thou good and faithful servant." To 
the latter, " I called, but ye refused." You set 
at naught all my counsel, and would none of my 
reproofs, therefore " depart from me." The doc- 
trine of man's moral freedom clears the divine ju- 
risprudence, and throws all the responsibility upon 
man, and if he be not saved, it lays the blame at 
his own door. 

From these considerations, it is easy to see 
which of these propositions the more clearly and 
forcibly challenges belief. That they are contra- 
dictory, and, therefore, cannot both be true, will 
appear from the following condensed statement : 

If man is morally free to choose either spirit- 
ual life or spiritual death, he has the power of 
choosing his own future destiny, which is the 
same thing. But if God has eternally chosen or 
decreed his future destiny for him — and God's de- 
cree cannot fail — this cannot destroys at once 
man's moral ability to choose and determine his 
own destiny. And although both the elect and 



man's new state of trial. 171 

• 

reprobate might choose the destiny which was 
eternally decreed, it was not possible to do other- 
wise, and settle for themselves a different destiny 
from the one decreed, without setting aside the 
decree of God. Hence, their choosing the des- 
tiny which God had decreed, would be no free 
choice, since it was impossible for them to do 
otherwise, and it would amount to nothing more 
than the weaker submitting to the stronger — the 
impotent will of man bowing to the immutable 
decree of God. Hence, it is evident that the 
propositions are contradictory, and cannot both 
be true. One or the other must, therefore, be 
abandoned as false. If we take as true the propo- 
sition that all things^ whatsoever comes to pass, were 
foreordained, and its inseparable cognate, a lim- 
ited atonement, then we set aside the doctrine of 
man's free agency ; but if we take as true the 
doctrine of man's free agency, we must abandon 
that of the foreordination of man's future destiny 
and of a limited atonement as false. The moral 
freedom of man is conceded even by those who 
advocate the doctrine of eternal election and rep- 
robation ; but we are not apprised that they pre- 
tend to harmonize them. Indeed, it is what, we 
are convinced, can never be done. 

It might be well briefly to notice a few of the 
passages of Scripture upon which much reliance 
is placed as supporting the doctrine of uncondi- 



172 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

• 

tional election, and, by consequence, a partial atone- 
ment. A part of the eighth chapter of Romans 
is appealed to with great confidence by the friends 
of this tenet. " For whom he did foreknow, he 
also did predestinate to be conformed to the im- 
age of his Son. . . . Moreover, whom he did 
predestinate, them he also called : and whom he 
called, them he also justified : and whom he justi- 
fied, them he also glorified." 

To a correct understanding of this passage, we 
must specially note, and not lose sight of, the 
character called foreknown, predestinated, justi- 
fied, and glorified. The character called is the 
lover of God. This is clear from the verse next 
preceding the passage just quoted : "And we 
know that all things work together for good to 
them that love God, to them who are the called ac- 
cording to his purpose." All who love God are 
called according to his purpose, according to his 
plan of saving men — according also to his fore- 
knowledge, and not contrary to it; and whom 
he foreknew he also did predestinate — to what 
end ? To be conformed to the image of his Son. 
This, then, is the object of predestination, con- 
formity to the image of God's Son, which pre- 
cisely corresponds with Eph. i. 4 : "According as 
he hath chosen us in him (Christ) before the foun- 
dation of the world " — to what end ? " That we 
(the lovers of God who are in Christ) should be 






man's new state op trial. 173 

holy and without blame before him in love." The 
choosing here spoken of, and the predestination 
as above, are, in meaning, one and the same, and 
are to the same end — to holiness, or conformity 
to the image of Christ. Both these passages har- 
monize with 1 Pet. i. 2 : " Elect according to the 
foreknowledge of God the Father, through sancti- 
fication of the Spirit, unto obedience." Also that 
other text where the apostle says : '" For God hath 
called us not to uncleanness, but unto holiness." 
From the perfect agreement of these passages 
that the object or end of the predestination was 
that all that were in Christ — that loved God — that 
were elected through sanctificcition of the Spirit, 
and "called unto holiness," "should be conformed " 
to Christ's image and " without blame before God 
in love." Those who thus loved God, and were 
elected to life through the sanctifying power of 
the Spirit, giving them, upon their reception of 
Christ, new hearts, were, of course, foreknown, 
and were now both justified and sanctified, and 
were, or would be, at the end of their earthly pil- 
grimage, " glorified." 

Thus we find that the calling to holiness, pre- 
destination, to conformity to the image of Christ, 
and election through sanctification of the Spirit 
unto obedience and unblamableness before God in 
love, all specially regard believers in Christ and 
meet together in those who love God. Hence, in 



174 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

this passage so much relied upon, we find not a 
word of the eternal predestination of a definite 
number of mankind to everlasting life to the ex- 
clusion of the rest. But we do find in it one of 
the most positive proofs anywhere to be found in 
the Bible of the final perseverance of the saints. 
That this was the scope and design of the apos- 
tle when he penned the passage, is evident from 
the context as well as from the remaining part of 
the chapter: "If God be for us, who can be 
against us ? " This question shows that what the 
apostle had said in the preceding part of his dis- 
course had special reference to the divine support 
which God would extend to those that love him. 
" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? " 
This question, with what follows, struck with such 
force the mind of Dr. A. Clarke, that he was con- 
strained to acknowledge, in his Commentary upon 
this part of the chapter, that " while it affords a 
strong presumption of their perseverance, fur- 
nishes a most powerful argument against apos- 
tasy." 

" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? 
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or 
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? Nay, 
in all these things we are more than conquerors 
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded 
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor prin- 
cipalities, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor 



man's new state of trial. 175 

things present, nor things to come, shall be able 
to separate us from the love of God which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord." From a view of the 
whole subject, it is evident that it looks to the 
support of the doctrine of the final triumph of 
all who are in the love of God, rather than the doc- 
trine of eternal, unconditional election and repro- 
bation of the souls of men. 

Another portion of Scripture often resorted to 
as one of the strongest proofs of this tenet, is 
found in the Epistle to the Ephesians. It might 
be well to quote somewhat lengthily, that the sub- 
ject may be more fully before us ; beginning at 
the fourth verse, chapter first : "According as he 
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of 
the world, that we (Jews who have believed in 
Christ and are in the love of God) should be holy 
and without blame before him in love : having 
predestinated us (himself with all others who 
were believers) unto the adoption of children by 
Jesus Christ unto himself (prefigured by the Isra- 
elites, to whom pertained, nationally, ' the adop- 
tion and the covenants '), according to the good 
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of 
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in 
the beloved : in whom we have redemption through 
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according 
to the riches of his grace ; . . . having made 
known unto us the mystery of his will, according 



176 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in 
himself: that in the dispensation of the fullness 
of times he might gather together in one all 
things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and 
which are on earth ; even in him : in whom also 
we have obtained an inheritance, being predesti- 
nated according to the purpose of him who work- 
eth all things after the counsel of his own will : 
that we should be to the praise of his glory, who 
first trusted in Christ." The Jews, nationally, 
were God's adopted people. Christ, on his human 
side, was of the Jews ; the first gospel offers of 
life through him were made to them, and of them 
were the first-fruits, or the first that " trusted in 
Christ;" and all this was after the counsel of 
God's own will. The apostle now changes from 
"we" to "ye" — from "we" Jews who "first 
trusted in Christ," to "ye" Gentiles "also trusted, 
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel 
of your salvation : in whom also, after that ye 
believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of 
promise " — the promise made to Abraham and all 
his spiritual seed. 

We take the ground that the apostle, in this 
part of his epistle, embraces three points : first, 
the predestination to holiness and love upon the 
part of all who trust in Jesus Christ, which he 
illustrates by the appointment, or election, of the 
Jews as his adopted and chosen people, upon 



man's new state op trial. 177 

whom he conferred an inheritance not only of an 
earthly, but also of a heavenly, nature — such as 
the covenants, the promises, and the giving of the 
law, appointing, or ordaining, and commanding 
them to holiness, or consecration to his service. 
Secondly, what he uses first as an illustration he 
then takes up as a principal point — viz. : the elec- 
tion of the Jews for special ends and purposes, 
which, however, he does not argue, but takes for 
granted, as it was not by any one disputed ; though 
he air along alludes to it in treating upon the third 
point — the calling of the Gentiles, and gathering 
together in one, even in Christ, both the Gentiles 
and Jews, constituting the fullness of the body of 
Christ. This was "the mystery of his will," ac- 
cording to his good pleasure, which he hath pur- 
posed in himself, "that in the fullness of the times 
the Gentiles should be gathered in and become 
fellow-citizens with the saints and of the house- 
hold of God." This purpose of God, here spoken 
of, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs with 
the Jews, is, in the third chapter, called "the 
eternal purpose," which God "purposed in Christ 
Jesus our Lord." This is clear from the preced- 
ing verses. Reminding the Church that he pre- 
viously, "in few words," brought this same subject 
before them, he farther says, "Whereby when ye 
read ye may understand what is my knowledge in 
the mystery of Christ .... that the Gentiles 
8* 



178 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

should be fellow-heirs and of the same body, and 
partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel." 
"Unto me ... is this grace given that I should 
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches 
of Christ; and to make all men see what is the 
fellowship of the mystery which from the begin- 
ning of the world hath been hid in God ... to 
the intent that now unto the principalities and 
powers in heavenly places might be known by the 
Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to 
the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ 
Jesus our Lord." 

We now have a condensed view of the " predes- 
tination," " the counsel of God's will," " the mys- 
tery of his will," "his purpose," his "eternal 
purpose," all meaning substantially the same, and 
referring, first, to the preappointment by the will 
of God that his children should be hoi?/, or con- 
formed to the image of his Son ; secondly, it was 
the counsel of his will, or purpose, before the 
world began, that he would elect, or set apart, the 
Jews as the repository of his oracles, covenants 
of promise, worship, and Church privileges, and 
in these respects to reject the ■ Gentiles ; also, 
thirdly, that "in the fullness of the times" he 
would break down the wall of separation, and 
bring in the Gentiles through faith in the Messiah, 
by which they would become the children of Abra- 
ham and heirs of the promise ; and thus making 



man's new state of trial. 179 

up the full complement of Christ — the fullness of 
his body who filleth all in all. 

We are fully persuaded that the predestinations, 
elections, and purposes of God, spoken of in the 
Scriptures, find their proper application to the ob- 
jects which we have specified, and some others, 
altogether aside from the eternal election to life 
of a part of mankind, to the exclusion of the rest. 
It is certainly evident that the purpose of God, 
spoken of in Ephesians, teaches no such doctrine. 
The ninth chapter of Romans is also relied upon 
as sustaining this tenet. What is said in this 
chapter about the twin-brothers Jacob and Esau, 
before they were born, or had done either good or 
evil, was said to their mother (prophetically) : 
"the elder shall serve the younger," indicating 
the purpose of God in electing the Jews, in Jacob, 
their national head, to the ends specified in the 
fourth and fifth verses of the chapter. This elec- 
tion took place in the mind, or counsel, of God 
before Jacob was born, and, of course, it was ac- 
cording to God's sovereign purpose, and not accord- 
ing to Jacob's good works. But the election of 
Jacob as the representative of the Jewish nation 
was, in fact, the election of that nation, which was 
then potentially in Jacob. In like manner, the 
rejection of Esau was the rejection of the nation 
of the Gentiles, who were then, in the same sense, 
in Esau. To be fully satisfied upon this point, we 



180 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

need only turn to what the Lord said to Rebecca, 
their mother, just previous to the birth of her 
twin children — Gen. xxv. 23: "And the Lord 
said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and 

tivo manner of people and the one people 

shall be stronger than the other people, and the 
elder shall serve the younger." Hence, when God 
elected Jacob he elected the whole Jewish nation; 
and so the rejection of Esau was the rejection of 
the Gentile nation. But to what end was the 
election of Jacob and the Hebrew nation? -Cer- 
tainly not to eternal life ; for on many occasions 
they forsook God, and many turned to the worship 
of idols, and sometimes thousands were destroyed 
for their sins. And besides, Peter declares that 
" God is no respecter of persons, but in every na- 
tion he that feareth him and worketh righteousness 
is accepted with him." Neither could the rejec- 
tion of Esau mean eternal reprobation ; if it did, 
Paul was wofully mistaken in being called of God 
to preach Christ to the Gentiles, and so was Peter 
in supposing that Cornelius and his friends were 
converted. The ends, or objects, of the election 
of the nation of Israel are specified in Rom. ix. 
4, 5, which we have had occasion elsewhere to 
mention. So also with respect to the potter and 
the clay — the vessels of honor and dishonor. That 
the apostle's idea was national when he wrote 
these words is made certain from the words of the 



MANS NEW STATE OP TRIAL 181 

prophet, quoted by the apostle — Jer. xviii. 1-10. 
Is it not strange that wise and good men, with the 
Scriptures before their eyes, can adduce any thing 
said of the election of Jacob and the rejection of 
Esau, or of the potter and the clay, as proof of the 
eternal individual election to life, or of like repro- 
bation to death? And yet, strange as it is, such 
is the case. God, as a sovereign ruler, may justly 
dispose of nations or of individuals to carry out 
the ends of his divine providence, leaving them, 
at the same time, free in regard to their spiritual 
and eternal interests. And just here, we would 
remark, a grave error has been committed. Men 
have pressed into service many passages of the 
sacred writings, which simply prove God's divine 
sovereignty, to prove the doctrine of his eternal 
decrees with respect to the everlasting happiness 
and misery of the souls of men. Should the 
question be asked, Will God simply as an absolute 
sovereign save a man? the answer is, No; or, 
Simply as a sovereign will he damn a man? No. 
And the reason of the no is, God has made man a 
morally free being, and sets life and death before 
him, requiring him to choose for himself; and God 
will not, indeed cannot, without self-denial, tran- 
scend the limits which he has himself set to his 
sovereign action. 

We have said more under the heading of this 
section upon the subject of election and reproba- 



182 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

tion than upon the limited extent of the atonement, 
for two reasons: 1. If the former is proved to be 
untrue, the latter is untrue also; they stand or fall 
together. 2. Our attention will be more particu- 
larly given, in the next place, to the provisions of 
the atonement. 

Atonement of Christ General. 

Our first argument in proof of the truth of this 
proposition is founded upon the fact that the repre- 
sentation of the first Adam, who was a type of 
the Second in his original headship, was not par- 
tial, but universal. He contained within himself, 
potentially, the whole human race, and was there- 
fore the representative not of a part only, but of 
all. Had he won the victory over the tempter, 
closing his trial with honor to his Creator and to 
the divine government, and thus, as a free being, 
by his voluntary choice have settled his destiny 
in a state of holiness and happiness, so would his 
victory and confirmation in the same state have 
passed to his offspring. This is in perfect accord- 
ance with the law founded in the relation of effects 
to their causes; and that he represented his entire 
race is evinced by the fact that, as he fell, all fell 
in him; and so death passes upon all men. So 
Christ, the second Adam, the great Restorer, vol- 
untarily undertaking to redeem, represents all that 
were represented by the first; otherwise, Christ 



man's new state of trial. 183 

could not with any good reason be styled, as Paul 
styles him, "the second Adam," since, in this rep- 
resentative sense, the figure applies to him with 
more force and clearness than in any other. And 
farther, if Christ is as a lamb slain from the foun- 
dation of the world, he, as the mediating second 
Adam, represented the first before he had any off- 
spring; and, by consequence, his offspring, while 
as yet they were contained in him, became his 
race only by actual multiplication of himself. 
This interprets the phrase, "Be fruitful and mul- 
tiply and replenish the earth." We think, from 
these considerations, it is quite evident that Christ, 
the second Adam, in his Mediatorship, represented 
all that were represented by his prototype, the 
first Adam, which was himself and his entire race, 
inclusive ; and upon this ground only can be main- 
tained the application and force of the figure. 
We conclude this argument with a single quota- 
tion: "He (Christ, the second Adam, the 'Lord 
from heaven') was made a little lower than the 
angels for the suffering of death, that he by the 
grace of God should taste death for every man." 
Our second argument is based upon the divine 
incarnation. This doctrine is clearly taught in the 
sacred Scriptures. "Unto us a child is born, a 
son is given, and his name shall be called Won- 
derful, Counselor, the Mighty God, . . the Prince 
of Peace;" and "In the beginning was the Word, 



184 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

and the Word was with God, and the Word was 
God, . . and the Word was made flesh and dwelt 
among us." "He took not on him the nature of 
angels, but the seed of Abraham;" and so "God 
was manifested in the flesh." 

Our Divine Mediator, Christ, possessed two dis- 
tinct natures — divine and human. Their union 
in the Redeemer was indispensable to human re- 
demption. In human nature the immutable law 
of God was violated, and in the same nature must 
its claims be met and satisfied. This nature, com- 
plete and full, is found in Christ; not the nature 
of a part only, but the nature of the whole race. 
Human nature is an inclusive unit, embracing all 
mankind. Now, if he took upon himself the nat- 
ure of all mankind, in order to atone for sin, are 
we not forcibly impressed that the atonement 
made is made for* all whose nature he had taken 
into union with his divine nature? This conclu- 
sion, though forcible within itself, is strongly sup- 
ported, when we farther consider that the whole 
human race stood upon the same plane. All sin- 
ners alike ; and if a part were capable of redemp- 
tion, all were equally so, for all were involved in 
precisely the same dilemma. If the claims of jus- 
tice could be met and satisfied for a part, it could, 
upon the same grounds, be met and satisfied for 
all. If the Divine compassion could, in justice 
and with honor to the violated law, reach the case 



man's new state of trial. 185 

of a part, so it could reach the case of all; and 
the Divine Mediator, in atoning for sin, could as 
easily and as justly atone for the sins of the whole 
of mankind as for a part only; and the certainty 
that he did so atone appears, in a striking light, 
from the fact that he made the atonement in the 
nature of man. This argument, we think, becomes 
conclusive by annexing that proclamation of 
Christ's forerunner, "Behold the Lamb of God 
that taketh away the sin of the world!' Jesus 
Christ was that Lamb, slain from the beginning, 
or foundation, of the world — by which we under- 
stand a virtual atonement, made simultaneously 
with man's transgression, and therefore he was 
permitted to live, to multiply, and was appointed 
to a new and second state of trial. Here stood 
the first man, the representative of human nature, 
and a sinner; there stood the Second, the Lord 
from heaven, the Saviour, who has taken this 
unity of human nature, in all its length and 
breadth, into union with his God-nature, and suf- 
fers the divine penalty due to sinners. This suf- 
fering he endures in the fullness and entirety of 
human nature, which was then potentially and in- 
herently in the first transgressor, in which nature 
Christ makes an atonement for sin, or, in the lan- 
guage of the harbinger, "He taketh away the sin 
of 'the world." We conclude this argument after 
inviting attention to the harmony of this text with 



186 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the human nature of the ivorld of mankind in 
which Christ made atonement. He suffers and 
dies in the nature of the human world, and there- 
fore atones for, or "taketh away, the sin of the 
world." How the advocates of a limited atone- 
ment can divide the unity of the human nature 
in which the Redeemer made the atonement, and 
classify the parts, respectively, under the designa- 
tions of elect and reprobate, is confessedly beyond 
our comprehension. 

Our third argument is founded upon the fact 
that the same law which condemned a part of 
mankind condemned all. The condemnation is 
universal, and the penalty incurred by transgres- 
sion impended alike over all. Now, if the Re- 
deemer interposed to suffer that penalty, in all its 
length and breadth, which, indeed, was indispensa- 
ble to the redemption of one sinner, how could he 
suffer it for one more than for another, or for a 
part and not for all ? Let it be noted that we are 
not to view the case in the light of many penal- 
ties, or one for each individual of the human race, 
but as one penalty impending over all mankind. 
The question is how this penalty could be endured 
by a substitute for a part, and not for all. To il- 
lustrate: say A., B., and C. owe the single sum 
of ten thousand talents, and have nothing to pay. 
Could a philanthropist step in, pay down the ten 
thousand talents, and liquidate the debt for A., 



man's new state of trial. 187 

and not for B. and C? And although the friend 
satisfied the demand through partiality to A., yet 
B. and C. would share equally in the benefit. 
Under the conviction that this is a just and fair 
illustration, we recur to the question, Could Jesus 
Christ come forward and suffer and satisfy the one 
penalty of violated law, in all its fullness and ex- 
tent, for a part of mankind, and not for all? The 
answer is that Christ the Redeemer met and sat- 
isfied in full the penalty of God's violated law, 
and therefore all mankind may partake of the 
benefits resulting from the atonement; and to 
avail themselves of the full and final benefits, all 
that is wanting upon their part is their free accept- 
ance of them through faith in Jesus Christ, their 
atoning Saviour. 

Our fourth argument is deduced from the infin- 
ite benevolence, or compassionate love, of God. 
The Divine compassion is the great fountain-head 
of light and life to our ruined world. Now, in 
proportion to the extent of the Divine compassion 
will be exalted the character of God. If its ex- 
tent is restricted and limited where there is mani- 
festly no conceivably just cause, or reason, why it 
should be, then will follow a restricted, or limited, 
exaltation. For illustration : take a million of 
persons perishing from hunger. A certain noble- 
man of the country has boundless stores of pro- 
visions. He is able to afford relief to all this 



188 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

starving multitude, without any sensible diminu- 
tion of his resources ; he is under no peculiar ob- 
ligations to any of them — they are all equally 
undeserving of his favor ; and such is the nature 
of the case that no greater sacrifice, or outlay of 
treasure, is required upon his part to provide for 
the million than for a thousand — yet this noble- 
man, though it costs as much to provide for one 
thousand of the starving million as it would to 
provide for them all, without any conceivable 
cause, or reason, restricts and confines it all to the 
one thousand. Which would the more. highly ex- 
alt his character, this limited extent of his benev- 
olence, or for him to have extended it alike to all? 
Most assuredly, the latter. The common sense 
and common philanthropy of mankind intuitively 
respond to this answer. It affords no relief in 
the case to say that he was under no obligations 
to any of the sufferers, and that as a sovereign 
dispenser he had a right to do as he pleased with 
his own. The partial discrimination he makes 
bears more the semblance of arbitrariness, or 
caprice, than of sovereignty, which, certainly, ob- 
scures and darkens the light of the nobleman's 
character as a philanthropist. Such a procedure 
is not in harmony with the doings of God respect- 
ing the temporal wants of all his creatures, even 
the very lowest in the scale of life, much less in 
regard to man. The quails were sent, and the 



man's new state of trial. 189 

manna, to all the hungry Hebrews. Christ fed, 
without exception, the whole five thousand with 
a few loaves and fishes. This was all they had — 
barely enough for the Master and his few disci- 
ples; but it is said, "He had compassion on the 
multitude," which enlarged and multiplied the 
loaves and fishes into a provision equal to his com- 
passion, "and they did all eat and were filled." 
That was large-hearted benevolence, and may 
shadow forth the compassion of his bleeding heart 
upon the cross for the perishing multitudes of this 
ruined world. Shall his compassion for the bodies 
of men exceed his compassion for their souls ? It 
cannot be. "God so loved the world, . . . that 
the world through him (Christ) might be saved." 
This, alone, puts in perfect keeping the Divine 
benevolence, in its manifestations in every depart- 
ment of his universe. If he sends genial suns 
and showers upon the earth, and makes the grass 
green, and decks the lily with more than Solomon's 
glory, and if he opens his hand and satisfies the 
wants of every living creature, he also proclaims, 
"Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of 
the earth; for I am God, and there is none else." 
Passages of like import, as the stars sown in the 
heavens, are profusely scattered over the firma- 
ment of divine revelation. Thus reigns a glorious 
harmony in all the works of God ; but when, in 
our theories, we narrow down the Divine compas- 



190 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

sionate love, and make it subside within the bounds 
of a small circle, including but a part of the fallen 
race as provided for in the scheme of redemption, 
that moment, instead of harmony, inharmony is 
introduced, and the exaltation of the character of 
God suffers as a divine philanthropist by so much 
as he is stinted in his compassionate love in mak- 
ing provision to save the souls of men. 

Our fifth argument is predicated upon John iii. 
16, 17: "For God so loved the world, that he 
gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
lieveth in him should not perish, . . . For God 
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the 
world, but that the world through him might be 
saved." The inquiry arises, What did the Saviour 
mean by the term world, in both of these verses ? 
Let the meaning of the term in the latter verse 
interpret the meaning of the term in the former. 
" God sent not his Son into the world to condemn 
the world." What world? This rebellious, re- 
volted world. What — without exception? Cer- 
tainly; all were alike guilty, and deserved ever- 
lasting condemnation. Here, then, the term world 
in its meaning embraces the entire human race. 
Having now the unequivocal meaning of the term 
world, we know the extent of the love of God, 
who gave his only Son. The extent of his love 
is measured by the whole lost world, which lay 
obnoxious to eternal condemnation. Hence, it is 



man's new state of trial. 191 

undeniably clear that the world that "God so 
loved" and the world that " might be saved," was 
the same world that Christ came "not to con- 
demn," or sentence to irretrievable perdition. And 
since the world in the latter verse includes the 
entire fallen race, and was the world that " God so 
loved that he gave his only Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life," it affords demonstrative proof that 
plenary provision is made in the divine economy 
for the salvation of all men. 

The sixth argument is embraced in the declara- 
tion of Paul, Heb. ii. 9 : " But we see Jesus who 
was made a little lower than the angels for the 
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor 
that he by the grace of God should taste death 
for every man." This passage includes all man- 
kind, taken separately and singly. Plainer and 
less ambiguous language could not be used. Angels 
are not subject to physical death, they stand in a 
sphere above its sway; therefore Christ was, on 
his human side, " made a little lower " than they, 
that he should, "by the grace of God," taste 
death for every man. If by his death he made an 
atonement, which none will deny, it necessarily 
follows that he made, not a limited, but a general, 
atonement. 

The seventh argument is based upon 1 Tim. ii. 
1-6 : " I exhort therefore, that, first of all, sup- 



192 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

plications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of 
thanks, be made for all men ; for kings, and for 
all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet 
and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of 
God our Saviour; who will have all men to be 
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the 
truth. For there is one God, and one mediator 
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus ; 
who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified 
in due time." 

In regard to this passage we remark, first, that 
the apostles never enjoined Christians to make 
supplications, intercessions, and giving thanks for 
one soul for whom the Saviour did not die. What ! 
make it the duty of the elect to intercede at the 
throne of grace for reprobates ? Absurd. The 
thought no sooner arises in the mind than it is re- 
jected. Christ himself makes no intercession for 
such, provided there be any. The Church would 
have as good ground to intercede for fallen angels 
for whom he did not die, as for reprobates for 
whom he did not die ; therefore it is clear that it 
was never made the duty of Christians to pray 
and intercede with God for any but those for 
whom the Saviour died, and for whom he inter- 
cedes. But Paul exhorts Christians to make sup- 
plications and intercessions for all men ; therefore 
Christ died for all men and intercedes for all. 



man's new state op trial. 193 

But the apostle speaks not in general terms 
only, but also in terms special, for he says, " For 
kings, and for all that are in authority." It will 
not be contended that all the idolatrous, deistical, 
and atheistical kings and rulers of Paul's day, and 
ever since, were of God's elect, as it is quite noto- 
rious that many of them lived abominable lives, 
and died most miserable deaths ; and yet it was 
made the duty of the Church to pray and inter- 
cede for these wicked rulers, who led the most 
abandoned lives, and died in their sins. For such 
Christ did not die, if he made only a partial atone- 
ment, since, according to this doctrine, all for whom 
he died will be infallibly saved. There is, there- 
fore, a palpable contradiction between the doctrine 
of a limited atonement and the injunction of 
Paul, that the Church must pray and intercede 
for all men, including that portion of mankind 
called reprobates, for whom, admitting the doc- 
trine true, Christ would no more intercede than 
he would for the fallen angels. But the passage 
proves, next to a demonstration, that he died to 
save all, and, of course, for the sinners on thrones 
as well as for their wicked subjects, many of whom 
live and die in their sins. 

Here we might close the argument, but that the 

evidence might be plenary, the apostle proceeds : 

" For this is good and acceptable in the sight of 

God our Saviour; who will have all men to be 

9 



194 x MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the 
truth." This language is clear and unambiguous, 
" Who will have all men to be saved ;" and, there- 
fore, I exhort you to pray for all men, including 
kings and all in any office of authority whatever. 
God wills that all should be saved, and this should 
also be the will of his children, and for this they 
should pray and intercede. " For there is one 
God, and one mediator between God and men, the 
man Christ Jesus ; who gave himself a ransom 
for all." Here is the full evidence of God's will 
that all should be saved. Christ gave himself a 
ransom for all. This, too, is the basis of the duty 
and privilege to pray and intercede for all, and 
the reason of Paul's exhortation. 

Had the apostle been required to settle, and 
put be}^ond all controversy, the doctrine of the 
general atonement, it would have been scarcely 
possible for him to have done it more clearly in the 
same number of words than he has in this passage. 

The eighth argument is predicated upon John 
xvi. 8 : "And when he is come, he will reprove the 
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judg- 
ment." This Christ said of the Holy Spirit, the 
Comforter whom he promised his disciples. This 
Divine Agent was not only to comfort the hearts 
of God's children, but to " reprove the world of 
sin " — a world of unbelievers ; for, says Christ, 
" Of sin, because they believe not on me." 



man's new state op trial. 195 

The reproof of the Spirit is, we believe, under- 
stood by all, in the light of conviction ; at least, 
so we understand it, and shall so consider it. " He 
will reprove," or convince, the " world of sin " by 
his divine illuminations, producing conviction that 
they are sinners against God. In this sense Christ 
is said to be " the true light that lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world." The world 
mentioned in this passage is the dwelling-place of 
all men, and John says that the true light " light- 
eth every man that cometh into " it. The term 
world in John xvi. 8, means all mankind, and is 
equivalent to " every man." Among these we 
find, alas ! but too many, who are the subjects of 
divine convictions, that refuse to yield — choosing 
"darkness rather than light" — trampling under 
foot the Son of God, and doing despite to the 
Holy Spirit. Nor is this any thing new — it was 
doubtless always the case with many of our fallen 
race; it was so in the days of Solomon. God 
then said to such, " Because I have called and ye 
refused ; I have stretched out my hand, and no 
man regarded : but ye have set at naught all my 
counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also 
will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your 
fear cometh." From these passages of Scripture, and 
many others, it is evident that many persons are the 
subjects of divine enlightenment and conviction who 
live on in a state of unbelief, and die in their sins. 



196 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Having premised these things, we would now 
recur to the declaration of Christ, that the Holy 
Spirit should " reprove," or convince, " the world 
of sin," and inquire, first, Is not spiritual influence 
one of the great benefits of the atonement ? The 
answer is, of necessity, Yes ; since, if no atone- 
ment had been made, no such influence would have 
visited mankind. Such influence comes not to the 
fallen angels for the plain reason that for them 
there is no atonement. But Christ affirms that 
the Spirit shall "reprove the ivorld" it follows, 
therefore, as a sequence, that the atonement is 
coextensive with spiritual influence, and this influ- 
ence reaches the world, or all mankind. If con- 
viction of sin by spiritual influence is one of the 
benefits of Christ's sufferings and death (which 
none can deny), and if this benefit may be realized 
by those, if there be such, for whom he did not 
die, might they not, by parity of reason, receive 
all the benefits of the atonement, and so be put upon 
the same plane with those for whom the atonement 
was made, and thus do away the necessity of any 
atonement for them in order to their salvation? 

Our second inquiry is, What is the object of 
the divine influence upon the hearts of mankind 
in reproving them of sin ? is it not to bring them 
to "repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus 
Christ " ? So it would appear, since Paul affirms 
that God commands "all men, everywhere" (all 



man's new state of trial. 197 

over the world), "to repent;" and all are required 
to believe. But could this be the object of the 
divine Spirit's influence upon the hearts of those 
for whom there was no atonement made, provided 
there are such ? Certainly not • for then the ob- 
ject of the divine Reprover would contradict the 
object of the atonement which was restricted to 
those, and only those, for whom the atonement 
was made. The object of the Almighty in the 
influences of his Spirit upon the hearts of the 
eternally elected is easily divined : it is to bring 
them to salvation in Christ in accordance with the 
views of the advocates of a partial atonement; 
but holding this doctrine, and at the same time 
extending these divine influences to the repro- 
bates, involves an insuperable difficulty in giving 
an answer to the question. If the design of the 
Holy Spirit in reproving all men is to save all 
men, then we subjoin, the atonement was made 
for all men, for salvation cannot be designed for 
any for whom the atonement was not made. The 
friends of a limited atonement will not admit that 
such is the design of the Spirit's operations upon 
the hearts of all men, but the elect only, for whom 
Christ died. The question is still unanswered. 
What, then, is the intention of the Spirit in re- 
proving the world — reprobates, if any, as well as 
elect ? Is it to raise false hopes in the bosoms of 
those who have no Saviour — to mock their misery 



198 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

by holding to their burning lips a Tantalus-cup of 
salvation, with no design that they shall ever tasto 
a drop ? Meanwhile he is continually crying, 
Drink, drink, it is the water of life — " whosoever 
will, let him take the water of life freely." But, 
poor souls, how shall they drink, when it never 
was intended that they should ? or is the design 
of the Spirit in convincing and calling them to 
leave them without excuse ? They want none but 
one, and that is furnished them by the doctrine 
of eternal reprobation. Should they, in the day 
of final settlement, be asked by the Judge why 
they were not saved, what if they should answer, 
We had no Saviour, and, therefore, salvation for 
us was impossible, and dost thou require impossi- 
bilities ? Art thou going to punish us for what 
was impossible for us to prevent ? " Shall mortal 
man be more just than God ? " That this would 
be a valid excuse upon their part will appear, we 
think from the following considerations : Now, 
suppose some should be lost for whom Jesus 
Christ suffered and died, making full atonement 
for their sins, and whom he enlightens and invites 
by his Spirit and gospel to come to him and be 
saved, warning them, meanwhile, of their immi- 
nent danger ; in a word, has done, and continues 
to do, every thing he can do for their rescue from 
sin and consequent perdition; we say, suppose 
some of those thus favored should willfully and 



MANS NEW STATE OF TRIAL. 199 

rebelliously reject all and be lost ; all intelligent 
beings would see at a glance that such persons 
would be deprived of all excuse. Now, as that 
class of mankind for whom Christ never died, and 
who were shut off from the possibility of salva- 
tion, is the exact counterpart, or opposite to that, 
for whom ample provision was made, so would be 
the ground of their inexcusablcness or excusableness 
respectively. And as the ground occupied by the 
class amply provided for through the atonement 
of Christ renders the willful rejectors inexcusable, 
so the precisely opposite ground occupied by those 
for whom no provision whatever was made, would 
constitute the ground of their excusableness, since 
the?/ had no Saviour, nor any means afforded, de- 
signed of God, to save them. As the ground oc- 
cupied by the favored class is in direct opposition 
and contrast to the ground occupied by the class 
not thus favored, so is in opposition and contrast 
their inexcusableness, or excusableness, respect- 
ively. This appears as evident as that black is 
the opposite of white, or that darkness is opposed 
to light; for what is true upon one hypothesis, 
cannot be also true upon another hypothesis pre- 
cisely the reverse. If it is true that those who 
are lost, belonging to the class for whose salvation 
full provision was made, are without excuse, it can- 
not be also true that those having no such provi- 
sion are likewise without excuse ; and as the re- 



200 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

verse of this is true, the latter class are furnished 
with an excuse upon the ground that no provision 
was made for them in the economv of human re- 
demption ; but if any are lost it will be their own 
fault — they will have no excuse; therefore the 
atonement is not limited, but general, in its pro- 
visions. 

One other point we would introduce as support- 
ing this argument, founded upon the unlimited 
extent of divine influence, and it is this : If it 
can be shown that any are lost who were the sub- 
jects of this influence, then the question will come 
up whether or not God was in earnest, looking to 
the salvation of such (now lost) sinners. That 
there are those who were once the subjects of 
divine influence, who are now lost beyond redemp- 
tion, is clearly shown from the sacred record. In 
the days before the flood, God saw that the wick- 
edness of man was great, and the earth was filled 
with violence, and the Lord said, " My Spirit 
shall not always strive with man." The wicked- 
ness of those antediluvian sinners with whom his 
Spirit had been striving with long-suffering in the 
days of Noah sunk them in a deluge of water, 
and drowned them in a flood of perdition. In 
the days of Solomon, God said to men of the 
same character, "Turn you at my reproof: be- 
hold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you." . . . 
But then he says, " Because I have called, and 



MAN'S NEW STATE OF TRIAL. 201 

ye refused, ... ye have set at naught all my coun- 
sel, and would none of my reproof: I also will 
laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your 
fear cometh ; when your fear cometh as desolation, 
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind ; when 
distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall 
they call upon me, but I will not answer; they 
shall seek me early, but they shall not find me." 

Again, in the New Testament we read of a 
similar character " trampling under foot the Son 
of God," and of doing " despite to the Spirit of 
grace," for whom, the Christ and Spirit despiser, 
there remained " no more sacrifice for sin." The 
question now is, Was God in earnest with these 
lost sinners in regard to their soul's salvation when 
he was operating upon them by his spiritual influ- 
ence, or was he not ? If we say he was not, we 
charge him with false dealing, which would be at 
our imminent peril ; but if we say he was in earn- 
est, desiring to save them according to the plan 
of salvation, then it will certainly follow that his 
plan of saving embraced them all ; and if divine 
influence is not limited, but is coextensive with 
the world of mankind, as Christ said it should be, 
and if God is in earnest, willing to save all whom 
his Spirit reproves of sin, it inevitably follows 
that the Saviour died and made propitiation " for 
the sins of the whole world." And hence, the 
inspired declaration that God is " not willing that 
9* 



202 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

any should perish, but that all should be saved 
and come to the knowledge of the truth," and that 
declaration grew out of the great fact that " there 
is one Mediator between God and men, the man 
Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all." 

We have little or no sympathy with the dis- 
tinction which some make between what they 
style " common calls " and " effectual calls" as it 
involves an enigma we cannot solve ; we, there- 
fore, pass it over to doctors of a sharper meta- 
physical vision, who will either give it a solution 
satisfactory at least to themselves, or give it a 
place in the category of men-made mysteries, gath- 
ered around the doctrine of eternal election and 
reprobation, and that of a partial limited atone- 
ment. 

The ninth argument is based upon the texts 
recorded respectively in Mark iii.; Heb. vi., x.; 
1 John v. The passage in Mark is' concerning 
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost ; that in Heb. 
vi. relates to certain persons who cannot be re- 
newed to repentance; Heb. x. speaks of those 
who trample under foot the Son of God, doing 
despite to the Spirit of grace ; and that in 1 John 
v. alludes to the sin which is " unto death." 

We think it is reasonable to conclude that these 
several passages allude to the same character of 
persons. That in Mark iii. speaks of those who 
blaspheme against the Holy Ghost; that in Heb. 



man's new state op trial. 203 

vi. assures us that it is impossible to renew again 
to repentance those who fall away, after having 
been enlightened and "made partakers of the 
Holy Ghost;" that in chapter tenth designates 
such persons as doing "despite to the Spirit of 
grace;" and the passage in 1 John v. represents 
some as committing the sin unto death. The sin 
spoken of in the first case " shall not be forgiven 
in this world, neither in the world to come," and 
is therefore the sin unto death. The sin for which 
it is " impossible to repent," also sins for which 
there is " no more sacrifice," or atonement, must 
be "unto death." 

Taking this as our stand-point, let us fancy the 
world of mankind divided into two general classes. 
For the one class Christ made full atonement, and, 
if the doctrine of election is true, all of that class 
shall be infallibly saved. For the other he made 
no atonement, and these are consigned to eternal 
death. Now, let it be inquired, To which of these 
classes belong those persons who do, or may, com- 
mit such sins? If we sav to the class for which 
Christ atoned, all of which will be infallibly saved, 
we say what is false, since none who shall be thus 
saved can commit the unpardonable sin, or sin 
unto death. Hence, it is clear that the passages 
of Scripture above alluded to cannot apply to any 
of those persons whose salvation has been infalli- 
bly secured. Now, let us see whether they will 



204 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

apply to those for whom no atonement was made, 
all of whom, of course, were consigned to eternal 
death. Christ says "all manner of sins and blas- 
phemy shall be forgiven the sons of men," except 
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost; but this can- 
not apply to those for whom there was no atone- 
ment, since no manner of sin or blasphemy could 
possibly be forgiven them; and besides, why 
designate one of their sins as being unpardonable, 
since all their sins are equally unpardonable? — as 
though a lord should say to his servants, "I never 
will pardon any of your offenses; but if you abuse 
my cattle, for thai offense I will never pardon you." 
Hence, it becomes evident that the passage with 
reference to the unpardonable sin cannot be ap- 
plied to those for whom there was made no atone- 
ment, all whose sins are alike unpardonable; nor 
yet can it apply to any of the class for whom 
Christ died, all of whom will be infallibly saved. 
Therefore, what Christ said about the blasphemy 
against the Holy Ghost has no application to any 
of the human race. This conclusion is inevitable 
upon the hypothesis that the atonement was made 
for a part only of mankind, and that that part was 
elected to eternal salvation. Those other passages 
alluded to cannot be rationally interpreted upon 
any other hypothesis than that Jesus Christ atoned 
for the sins of all mankind. For instance: how 
can the text in Heb. vi., relating to those who sin 






man's new state op trial. 205 

willfully after they have been enlightened, and 
have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost? It 
is said of such, It is "impossible to renew them 
again to repentance;" and Paul gives the reason, 
"Seeing they crucify the Son of God afresh and 
put him to an open shame." Now, this scripture 
does not mean the literal murderers, or crucifiers, 
of Christ, for they were the special objects of the 
prayer of the cross, "Father, forgive them." Nor 
could those willful sinners spoken of in the text, 
nor indeed any others in this sense, crucify "afresh 
the Son of God;" but by their sins they crucified 
him the first time, and by their sin of willful and 
final rejection of him as their Saviour they could 
say "afresh," "Away with him," and "give us 
Barabbas," and thus crucify the Son of God afresh 
and put him to an open shame. If their sins had 
not been borne by the Son of God in his body 
upon the cross, and had no part in his crucifixion 
for sin, how could they be said to "crucify him 
afresh?" Christ, then, died for these willful fallen 
aivay sinners, for whom repentance was now "im- 
possible." The apostle illustrates the case most 
beautifully by the "earth, which drinketh in the 
rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth 
herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiv- 
eth blessing from God; but that which beareth 
thorns and briers is nigh unto cursing, whose end 
is to be burned." What is the object of him 



206 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

who sends upon the earth the vivifying showers 
of rain ? To cause it to bring forth fruit, most 
assuredly. So those hopeless willful sinners were 
"enlightened," being made " partakers of the Holy 
Ghost" to save them from the Divine anathema 
and everlasting burnings. And if this was the 
object of the Almighty in regard to those sinners, 
it legitimately follows that the atonement was 
made for them, for his object is to save none out- 
side of the atonement. 

The same, in substance, may be said of those 
who " trample under foot the Son of God, and 
count the blood of the covenant wherewith they 
were sanctified an unholy thing, and do despite to 
the Spirit of grace." How could those have any 
thing to do with the blood of Christ? That blood 
was never shed for them if they were not included 
in the atonement, and it would be to them as 
though it had never been shed; and besides, in 
what conceivable sense the blood of Christ could 
be said to "sanctify" reprobate sinners, for whom 
he made no atonement, is beyond our comprehen- 
sion. But if he shed his blood for all men, that 
all "might through him be saved," it is easy to 
see how that blood, in a high and an important 
sense, sanctified all men. It sanctified them in 
the sense of setting them apart to a new trial, or 
probation, under a dispensation of mercy. In 
this condition, they might trample that blood un- 



man's new state of trial. 207 

der foot, and treat it as though it -was unholy, or 
no more than the blood of a common man, un- 
worthy of their favorable consideration ; and this 
is the only sense in which the passage can receive 
a sound interpretation. 

That other passage, recorded in 1 John v., 
which speaks of "the sin which is unto death,'" 
for the forgiveness of which the Church may not 
pray, is equally incapable of application either to 
the elect or to the reprobate. The advocates of 
the doctrine of a limited atonement cannot admit 
that a single one for whom the Saviour atoned 
could perpetrate that sin, as such admission would 
destructively collide with the doctrine of eternal 
election. Neither can the passage with any more 
propriety be applied to any (if there are such) 
for whom no atonement was made. Why should 
any particular sin of theirs be singled out as the 
"sin unto death" since all their sins are alike unto 
death ? In their irredeemable condition, it would 
be impossible for them to commit any one sin to 
which a preference could be given, as being unto 
death, more than to another of their sins, since 
they can perpetrate no sins but sins unto death. 
This being the case, the inspired John was either 
spending his breath in vain, in speaking of any 
particular sin of reprobates as being unto death 
rather than any other of their sins, or, then, he 
was not a believer in the doctrine of eternal elec- 



208 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

tion and reprobation, and, by consequence, a be- 
liever in that of a general atonement. In con- 
firmation of the latter, hear the inspired man him- 
self: speaking of Jesus Christ, he says, "He is 
the propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, 
but also for the sins of the whole tvorld." 

Our tenth argument is founded upon 2 Cor. v. 
14, 15 : " Because we thus judge, that if one died 
for all, then were all dead \ and that he died for 
all, that they which live, should not henceforth 
live unto themselves, but unto him which died for 
them, and rose again." In this text the apostle 
takes it as an undisputed fact that Christ died for 
all, and by this proves that all are dead. Dead 
how? In sin, of course. He died for none, but 
for sinners thus dead ; but he died for all, there- 
fore all were dead. This was the avowed judg- 
ment of Paul. He proves the universal prevalence 
of spiritual death from the great fact that Christ 
died for all, measuring thus the extent of the fall 
by the extent of the atonement. Now, to say 
that Christ did not die for all would be to say. that 
the apostle reasoned from a false premise, and ar- 
rived at a false conclusion — that is, that "all were 
dead" But this is not all : he tells us, in the same 
passage, that he not only judged that all were 
dead, but also that Christ did die for u all, that 
they which live, should not henceforth live unto 
themselves, but unto him which died for them, and 



man's new state of trial. 209 

rose again." Hence, the doctrine of a limited 
atonement destroys all agreement between the 
apostle's premise and conclusion, and sets aside 
his judgment that Christ died for all ; but the har- 
mony is completely restored upon the ground of a 
general atonement. 

We will close this section with a few general 
remarks. When the awful crisis, predicted by 
Christ, of Jerusalem's destruction had arrived — 
when the terrible prognostics pointing to her over- 
throw and utter desolation and ruin glared upon 
the vision of the doomed inhabitants — history in- 
forms us that the children of God escaped from 
the city by a way opened up for them by his di- 
vine providence, while his "uttermost wrath" came 
upon those who did not flee — those from whose 
"eyes," according to Christ's declaration, "the 
things which belonged to their peace were hidden." 
But now it was too late ; the last lingering ray of 
light had vanished ; they were given over of God ; 
they had trampled under foot the Son of God, 
and counted his blood, which they had shed, as an 
unclean thing, unworthy as a sin-offering, and had 
"done despite to the Spirit of grace," crucifying 
thus the Son of God afresh, and putting him to 
open shame. For such there remained no more 
sacrifice for sin ; but had not this devoted, blinded 
people once a day, previous to the advent of Christ, 
and a day when he was personally among them, 



210 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

preaching to them the kingdom of heaven and do- 
ing mighty works before their eyes, which epoch 
he emphatically styles "this their day?" Yes, 
they had a day, a day of light, when they might 
have known the things pertaining to their eternal 
"peace," but now they were "hid from their eyes;" 
and the whole burden of blood, from the blood of 
Abel to the blood of Zecharias, whom they had 
slain between the temple and the altar, was come 
upon that generation to whom Christ had just 
propounded the awfully pregnant question, "How 
can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Now, 
these incorrigibly wicked, God-given-over Jews 
were either included in the atonement of Christ or 
they belonged to that portion of mankind for whom 
no atonement was made. If no atonement was 
made for them, how could Jesus, in view of their 
approaching "damnation," weep over them, and 
break forth into that deep wail of heart-rending 
sorrow, "0 Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how often 
would I have gathered thy children together as a 
hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and 
ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto 
you desolate?" Could the heart of Jesus sympa- 
thize with and weep over the lost condition of 
reprobates for whom not one drop of that heart's 
blood should be shed to make atonement? The 
thing is impossible. Those Christ-rejecting Jews 
were therefore included in the general atonement, 



man's new state of trial. 211 

which leaves a large margin for Christ's sorrow of 
heart and tears of weeping. 

We would farther suggest that language could 
not be employed more likely to create in the minds 
of men the belief that the atonement by Christ 
included all mankind than was employed by Christ 
and his apostles. If they intended to teach the 
doctrine of a limited atonement, they used terms 
calculated to mislead the mind and to teach men 
precisely the reverse of what they intended. Who 
would ever suppose that Christ was teaching the 
doctrine of a partial atonement when he declared 
that "God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish," or, in the very next breath, 
confirming this by declaring that "God sent not 
his Son into the world to condemn the world, but 
that the world through him (his atonement) might 
be saved?" or John the Baptist, when, pointing 
to the Saviour, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God 
that taketh away the sin of the world '?" Also, 
if Paul's intention was to teach that, in the econ- 
omy of redemption, provision was made for only 
a part of mankind, he was equally unhappy in the 
selection of terms to convey his ideas. Where 
could be found the unprepossessed mind that could 
conclude that he was aiming to teach that Christ 
died for only a part of mankind, when he affirmed 
that, by the grace of God, "he tasted death for 



212 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

every man?" or when he says, "He is the Saviour 
of all men, especially of them that believe ?" or 
when he declares, " There is one Mediator between 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave 
himself a ransom for all?" Peter, likewise, fell 
into the same mistake, for he opened his mouth 
and said, "Now I perceive of a truth that God is 
no respecter of (not merely nations, but) persons." 
The Apostle John, also, was at fault in this re- 
spect, when he says Christ the Righteous "is the 
propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, but 
also for the sins of the tvhole ivorld" and declaring 
farther, "And we have seen and do testify that the 
Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world" 
After this most striking unanimity in regard to 
the terms used by Christ and the apostles in teach- 
ing the extent of the atonement, one would almost 
be ready to conclude either that they had banded 
together to mislead the minds of men by pretend- 
ing that the atonement was general in its provis- 
ions, if indeed it was only limited, or that words 
have no definite meaning, and that mortals have 
neither chart nor compass to point their course , 
over the perilous sea of life and guide them to the 
haven of truth and happiness. But only let it be 
granted (and it would be the height of presump- 
tion to deny it) that Christ and his apostles, in 
the use of the most appropriate terms which they 
all employed, intended to teach the doctrine of the 






man's new state of trial. 213 

general atonement, and the whole difficulty at 
once vanishes. 

In complete harmony with the provision through 
Christ's mediation for the salvation of all men are 
the calls of the Spirit, injunctions to repentance 
and faith, invitations to the gospel-feast and waters 
of life, with everv assurance that " 'whosoever will" 
may "take the water of life freely," and none 
shall be turned "away empty." 

Benefits of the Atonement. 

We cannot pretend to enumerate all these bene- 
fits, which are numerous, and which are of vital 
importance. We will, however, touch upon some 
that, are general in their application. 1. The 
stroke of injured and insulted justice due to the 
transgressor was diverted from the guilty object 
to the spotless Lamb of God "who taketh away 
the sin of the world," and man, by consequence, 
is permitted still to live upon the earth, and to 
propagate his kind. 2. He is appointed to a sec- 
ond probation, or state of trial. During this pro- 
bation he is again called upon to choose and deter- 
mine his destiny, either for his eternal happiness 
or everlasting misery. Thus circumstanced, a new 
condition is presented to him, asking compliance 
upon his part with the assurance of life everlasting, 
provided he does comply. This looks very much 
like the covenant of grace presented to fallen man 



214 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

for his acceptance, in order to his future happiness; 
and all that is wanting to secure that glorious boon 
is a free heart-acceptance of that covenant by faith 
in the divinely-promised Seed of the woman. The 
second condition laid down to man, upon the ac- 
ceptance or rejection of which depends his final 
destiny, is not like the first. The first condition 
was, Do; the second, Believe. The difference be- 
tween the first and second conditions proposed to 
man is measured by the difference between his 
original moral purity and power and his present 
depraved and helpless situation. From an abstract 
view of man in his moral depravity and impotency, 
it would seem impossible for him to do or to choose 
any thing lying in the direction of either his spir- 
itual welfare or the glory of his Creator. This is 
even so, if we consider him separate and apart 
from the atonement by Christ, and "the grace of 
God which bringeth salvation," which "hath ap- 
peared to all men." In such a condition, not a 
single ray of light would be let into the dark and 
dreary region of his thought, and there would be 
no conceivable basis upon which to build the small- 
est hope. His rescue from this sad and awful di- 
lemma necessitates two things — the interposition 
of a mediator, and ability to avail himself of the 
benefits of the mediation. Such mediation and 
ability, though they would not deliver and save 
him, would, nevertheless, place him within the 



man's new state op trial. 215 

limits of possible salvation ; and here comes in his 
second probation, or trial, which is, as above said, 
a second general benefit of the atonement. The 
third general benefit is the restoration of moral 
freedom. Had a sufficient atonement been made 
for sin, and man at the same time left without 
ability to obtain the benefits of it, what, so far as 
he was concerned, would it have availed him? 
Would looking into a well of cool water quench 
the traveler's thirst, unless he had the ability to 
draw and drink ? The economy of human redemp- 
tion would be incomplete did it not meet the case 
of man at every needy point. Hence, we may 
justly conclude that man's ability to choose be- 
tween good and evil — between life and death — a 
second time is restored to him in the second Adam, 
the Mediator. Thus he is set up with all the 
requisite antecedents to a new and second proba- 
tion. How man's power of choice in determining 
his destiny under this dispensation of grace is re- 
stored we need not inquire. We might be satis- 
fied upon this question by the declaration of Christ, 
"He that believeth shall be saved; he that be- 
lieveth not shall be damned." It is enough to 
know that God addresses and treats man as free 
to choose; and upon that ground alone he holds 
him accountable. It is certain that he who created 
man and elevated him to the dignified station of 
moral freedom could, in his purposes of mercy and 



216 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

grace toward him, restore it, if lost. Christ said, 
" No man cometh unto me except the Father draw 
him," and, " If I be lifted up, I will draw all men 
unto me." Man, by his sin, had destroyed the 
centripetal bond between himself and the central 
moral sun, the fountain of light and life of the 
universe ; he had become an erratic body under a 
propelling force which, if not counteracted by an 
opposite influence, would drive him farther and 
farther from God; but such counteracting influence 
has been brought to bear, through grace. Christ has 
been lifted up, and draws all men, as he said he would 
do. He is "the sun" — a power, an influence from 
him has gone forth upon "all men." When Christ 
said, " I will draw all men," he did not mean that 
he would convert and save all men. What, then? 
He meant (we take it) that he would so influence 
them as to capacitate and put them in the right 
direction to come to him; and this means the 
restoration of moral freedom. A state of moral 
trial means moral power to choose; in the absence 
of this power, moral trial would be moral mockery. 
We have intimated a wide difference between 
the conditions " do " and ".believe" belonging, re- 
spectively, to the covenant of works and that of 
grace. Compliance with the first condition would 
have secured justification and life by works; com- 
pliance with the second secures justification and 
life by grace. "Not to him. that ivorJeefh, but to 



man's new state op trial. 217 

him that ivorketh not but believeth." "It is of 
faith that it might be by grace!' The power to 
do belonged to man's original moral constitution ; 
the power to believe, since his moral prostration by 
sin, is graciously bestowed upon him. 

We have said the scheme of human salvation 
would be defective if it did not meet the case of 
man at all its points of moral necessity. Man's 
total moral darkness is certainly one of those 
points; for how shall the blind not "fall into the 
ditch?" But this point of great need is fully met 
in the plan of God to save men. Is it asked, Hotv? 
The answer is given by John, referring to Christ, 
" That was the true light that lighteth every man 
that cometh into the world." And this is a fourth 
general benefit of the atonement. Under this head 
may be included the enlightening influences of the 
Spirit and the revelation contained in the inspired 
writings which God has given to men. All these 
make spiritual manifestations of light upon the 
darkness of the mind of man, promising to lead 
him, if he will but follow, into the region of eter- 
nal day. 

Covenant of Grace. 

A covenant, in its proper acceptation, is an 
agreement, or contract, with a promise either ex- 
pressed or implied. A covenant may be proposed 
by one party, with a certain condition to be com- 
plied with, in order to entitle others to a partner- 
10 



218 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

ship. This is common in the every-day business 
of life. 

There are several covenants spoken of in the 
Scriptures : the covenant commonly called the 
covenant of works, made between the Creator and 
his creature, man; the covenant of Sinai with the 
Israelites ; and the covenant with Abraham, styled 
the covenant of grace. Although it is not ex- 
pressly stated in the Scriptures that there was a 
covenant made with our first father in Eden, yet 
when we consider him as endowed with moral lib- 
erty of will, and as being put upon a state of trial, 
with a test of obedience set before him, together 
with the inevitable consequence of disobedience, 
which was death, we cannot but conclude that 
life, which is the opposite of death, was promised 
upon his obedience ; and it is probable that his 
confirmation of state was, in symbol, placed before 
him in the mystic tree called " the tree of life." 
These things considered, we think it evident that 
a covenant existed between the Creator and his 
intelligent and accountable creature. This cove- 
nant is called the covenant of works, because it 
was conditioned upon perfect obedience upon the 
part of man. The covenant of Sinai, between 
Deity and the nation of Israel, was also condi- 
tioned upon their obedience, which they solemnly 
promised. (See Ex. xix. 8.) The stipulation 
upon the part of Deity consisted, principally, of 



man's new state of trial. 219 

promises of temporal blessings — the possession of 
the originally promised inheritance of the land of 
Canaan, victory over their enemies, a high state 
of prosperity, together with forgiveness of their 
sins upon their penitence and return to him from 
their evil ways ; but the pardon of sin was not 
conditioned upon their external obedience, only so 
far as it evinced true penitence of heart, as the 
fruit of faith in the promised Messiah, which is 
the condition of the covenant of grace. This 
covenant is called the covenant of grace in contra- 
distinction from the covenant of works, and be- 
cause it promises an abundance of grace to all 
who embrace it. We are not to suppose that the 
covenant made with Abraham, which contained 
the promise that in his seed all nations should be 
blessed, and that he should- be the representative 
spiritual heir of the world, was disannuled by the 
covenant of Sinai. Under this covenant was the 
dispensation of the law, with promises chiefly of 
temporal blessings ; but this covenant of the law 
(as perhaps it might properly be termed) did not 
make void the covenant of grace. This Paul 
fully confirms in Gal. iii. 17: for "the law which 
was four hundred and thirty years after (the 
promise in the covenant with Abraham) cannot 
disannul that it should make the promise of none 
effect." The "seed" in this promise Paul de- 
clares to be Christ, and that by the promise " the 



220 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

gospel was preached to Abraham." So in the 
same way was the Christ to come preached to the 
Jews during the whole law dispensation, for they 
were no strangers to the existence of this promise. 
In it Christ, the promised "Seed," was held up 
before them, and the law of sacrifices, cleansings, 
and purifications was designed, typically, to in- 
struct and direct them to him ; and in this way 
the law was appointed their "schoolmaster to bring 
them to Christ." But the law, or schoolmaster, 
dispensation was to be superseded and set aside 
by the new covenant, or gospel dispensation, for 
"after that Christ is come we are no longer under 
a schoolmaster." The new covenant is the same 
with the covenant of grace, only its promises were 
enlarged and amplified, and it was fully confirmed 
by the blood of Jesus Christ, its Mediator. If a 
Jew, coming continually to the blood of sacrificed 
birds and beasts, and washings and purifyings of 
the ceremonial law, failed to obtain a purified 
heart, "the bringing in of a better hope" would 
prove effectual. This "better hope" in Christ, 
brought in in the covenant of grace and set before 
that troubled Jew, if by faith he embraced it, did 
not fail to purify his "conscience from dead works 
to serve the living God." 

There is a remarkable analogy between the 
promise made to Adam after the fall and the prom- 
ise in the covenant with Abraham. In that to 



man's new state of trial. 221 

Adam, the "seed" of the woman ; in that to Abra- 
ham, "and in thy seed" — which seed Paul inter- 
prets to be Christ. This gives us a glance at 
what is no doubt a fact, that this same covenant 
of grace was proposed to and embraced by our 
fallen Dither, and was renewed from time to time 
through the ages down to Noah, on to Abraham, 
thence to Isaac, Jacob, and through the prophetic 
age down to Christ ; and, by a little strict atten- 
tion, it may be seen that its light of promise grew 
the brighter all along its hopeful pathway the 
nearer it approached its actual confirmation by the 
blood of its Mediator on the cross of Calvary. 
And there, being actually confirmed, it does not 
stop, But, chartered anew by Mediatorial blood, its 
light of promise continually inspiring " the better 
hope " into the hearts of all of Abraham's spirit- 
ual children, it will continue on until the present 
dispensation shall open into perfect and perpetual 
day. 

We have said that the covenant of grace has 
existed ever since the first promise struck up its 
light of hope in our fallen world. Its condition 
is faith. "Abraham believed God (believed his 
promise of Christ), and it was counted to him for 
righteousness." He was justified by faith, and 
thus by faith became a party to the covenant, and 
was entitled to all its stipulated blessings. Abel, 
too, fulfilled its condition, for by faith he offered 



222 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Cain 
was an unbeliever, a faithless sinner ; he slew his 
"righteous" brother. Enoch, and Noah, and 
Abraham, with a host of ancient believers, enume- 
rated in Heb. xi., believed the promise. These 
all died in faith, and, having embraced the prom- 
ises, were members of the covenant and heirs of 
the hope of eternal life. 

This covenant is open for admission to mem- 
bership to all who comply with its condition, but 
unbelievers have no title to its promised blessings. 
It is called the new covenant, perhaps, because of 
the greater clearness and enlargement of the lan- 
guage of its promises, which are set forth in such 
detail as to embrace every trial and emergency of 
the Christian warfare ; also, because it was to su- 
persede the covenant of the law, or of Sinai, and 
with the new dispensation to be recognized only 
as though it, also, was new — being the only cove- 
nant adapted to the new economy. 

The covenants are also in the Scriptures called 
testaments ; but between the two names there is 
no essential difference of meaning. 

The covenant called new is said to be estab- 
lished upon " better promises." This because the 
promises of the old, or law, covenant embraced, 
mostly, temporal blessings, while those of the 
new embraced all spiritual blessings, for this life 
and the life to come — its terms of promise to its 



man's new state of trial. 223 

children being, concisely, " I will be their God." 
This is every thing, and enough. 

Christ a Prophet. 

He was a prophet in the fullest sense of the 
term. In their visions of the distant and great 
future, the ancient seers saw and spake of him as 
a prophet. By the spirit of prophecy, Moses 
said, "A prophet shall the Lord our God raise up 
unto you of your brethren. Him shall ye hear in 
all things : and whosoever will not hear that 
prophet shall be destroyed from among the peo- 
ple." No condition of man, on this side of the re- 
gions of woe, can be more wretched than to be 
sunk and buried in ignorance of God and of divine 
things. Such a condition would necessarily exist 
unless mankind were divinely illuminated. This 
moral want of knowledge of God, and of divine 
things which make for man's peace and happiness 
here and hereafter, is fully met in the economy of 
human salvation. Not only did Christ, in his day 
of literal sojourn upon the earth, fulfill the office 
in its twofold sense of foreteller and teacher ■, but 
from the earliest ages of the world inspired holy 
men to speak as they were moved by his Spirit; 
and thus speaking, they taught mankind the 
knowledge of God and the duties they owed to 
him. This knowledge, like a star — dim indeed at 
first — grew brighter and brighter, and threw a 



224 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

more and more expansive light all along its heav- 
enly pathway, until it culminated in the zenith 
over the Babe of Bethlehem. 

Christ was a self-inspired prophet; his knowl- 
edge was infinite ; the fullness of the Godhead 
dwelt in him bodily. Here is the "great mystery 
of godliness." By independent self-intuition he 
comprehended in one view the eternal past, the 
great (to us) tangled web of the present, and the 
eternal future. John was as great a prophet as 
any born of woman. " Behold, a greater than 
John is here!" What a prophet! He spake as 
never man before had spoken. He spoke of his 
betrayal, of his suffering and death, resurrection 
and ascension to glory. He spoke also of the 
coming " baptism with the Holy Ghost and with 
fire ; " also, of Peter's fall, and the manner of 
Peter's death. He foretold the destruction of the 
Jewish temple and the total overthrow of the 
Jews, and their dispersion. Lastly, he foretold 
his second coming and the end of the w T orld. All 
these things have literally come to pass, except 
his second coming and the end of the world, both 
of which are drawing nigh. He foretold, also, the 
afflictions and persecutions of his Church, but de- 
clared "the gates of hell should not prevail against 
it." This latter prediction has held good during 
eighteen hundred years, and will continue to hold 
good until the Church fights her last battle and 



Iran's new state of trial. 225 

wins her final victory, when it will receive its full 
accomplishment. 

Christ was a great teacher as well as foreteller. 
He taught men new lessons in the knowledge of 
God. He said, "No man knoweth the Father, 
but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal 
him." He was constantly alluding to "my Father" 
"your Father" and "our Father " and thus from 
human fatherhood he conducts the minds of men 
up to the great Father of the universe, and says 
to them, " If ye, being evil, know how to give good 
gifts to your children, how much more shall your 
Heavenly Father give good things to them that 
ask him." 

Here he gave men to understand that the 
great Father of all possessed in perfection all 
the qualities and attributes of Fatherhood. From 
this view of the character of God he deduced an- 
other lesson — that since God was a loving, com- 
passionate, impartial, and just Father, they should, 
with the utmost child-like confidence, trust him for 
his care and protection over them ; and to enforce 
this lesson, he pointed them to the fowls of the 
air and the lily of the field. The fowls neither 
sowed nor gathered into barns, yet " your Father 
feedeth them ; are ye not better than they ? " Now, 
consider the lilies : they toil not, neither spin, yet 
even Solomon's glory faded in the presence of the 
lily ; and if God so clothe the grass of the field, 
10* 



226 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

will he not clothe you, ye of little faith ? When 
this lesson receives sincere heart-attention, it be- 
comes a mighty faith-invigorator. Thousands have 
set themselves down to it with weak faith, and 
have risen from it with strong faith ; it is as appli- 
cable to the men of to-day as it was to those who 
heard it when it first fell from the lips of Christ, 
the great Teacher. Thus he taught men to know 
that God, as the great Father of all, possessed in 
his nature all the qualities and attributes essential 
to true and perfect Fatherhood. This at once re- 
veals God not only as an object of the profoundest 
veneration and most confident trust, but also of 
love ; and now he teaches that " all the laiv and the 
prophets" converge and meet in this single point 
— LOVE. This is the intense focus of the moral 
universe ; thence is radiated the divine warmth 
that is ever quickening and intensifying spiritual 
life. " God is love." God, then, is the great cen- 
ter of love; all the law and the prophets hang 
upon this center : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength, 
and thy neighbor as thyself." The all-pervading 
and life-vivifying influence emanates from " God, 
who is love," reaching and vitalizing all upright 
spiritual natures; and from them it is returned 
back again to its primal source. There is, then, a 
continual interchange, a perpetual fluent and reflu- 
ent wave, of love between the great Father and 



man's new state of trial. 227 

all his loving children. " We love him, because 
he first loved us." 

Christ taught much by parable : " The kingdom 
of heaven is like " such and such things. In the 
parable the thing that is used is familiar, and has 
in some important point a resemblance of what he 
wishes to unfold concerning the kingdom of heaven. 
The deep spiritual meaning, or truth, lies under, 
but gleams through, the outside parabolic figure, 
or resemblance. In this way of teaching he gave 
full scope to the action of the mind in its anxious 
search for the rich treasures of truth, as well as 
for the exercise of the genius and fancy. The 
man who understood his parables was as a " scribe 
instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, and as a 
householder which bringeth forth out of his treas- 
ure things new and old." 

Christ, the great teaching Prophet, taught also 
doctrinally. This is the positive-absolute side of 
his teaching. He never said, This is my opinion. 
He had no opinions ; with him it was all the most 
dogmatical, or positive, knowledge. When he pro- 
nounced a doctrine, it admitted of no modifica- 
tions; it was a finality. "He that believeth 
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be 
damned " is final, and settles the world's destiny. 
"And he taught daily in the temple; but the 
chief priests and the scribes, and the chief of the 
people, sought to destroy him; and they could 



228 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

not find what they might do, for all the people 
were attentive to hear him." 

Christ a Priest. 

The office of the priest, under the ceremonial 
law, was to offer sacrifices for the sins of the peo- 
ple — to intercede for and to bless them. Until 
the days of Moses, and the promulgation of the 
law by him, the priesthood was not confined to 
any particular family; previous to that time the 
first-born of every family, the fathers, the princes, 
and kings, were priests. Immediately after the 
giving of the law at Sinai, young men chosen from 
among the people were appointed to that office, 
and served until, by a divine statute, it was con- 
fined to the tribe of Levi. The high-priests, who 
alone entered once a year into the holy of holies, 
were set apart to their office in the same way with 
ordinary priests, with the exception that there 
was poured upon their heads a greater quantity 
of the oil of consecration, whence they were 
called " the anointed." They were eminent types 
and figures of Christ, who was specially ordained 
of God as "the High-priest of our profession." 
The term priest is most appropriately applied to 
Christ, who, by the sacrifice of himself, made full 
atonement for sin, and by his own blood entered 
into the holy of holies, even into heaven itself — 
there, by his intercession, " to appear in the pres- 



man's new state of trial. 229 

ence of God for us." " Thou art a priest forever 
after the order of Melchisedec," was the divine 
appointment of Christ by the Father. He glori- 
fied not himself to be made a priest, but was 
called to that office. Christ was not a priest after 
the order of the sons of Aaron ; they were " made 
priests after the law of a carnal commandment," 
but he, " after the power of an endless life." Their 
priesthood was " weak and unprofitable," expiat- 
ing sin only typically; but that of Christ, really, 
and is effectual to the soul's eternal redemption. 
The priests under the typical law could not con- 
tinue by reason of death; but Christ "continueth 
ever," having "an unchangeable priesthood." The 
former were made priests "without an oath," but 
Christ "with an oath" — "The Lord sware and 
will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after 
the order of Melchisedec," who was a preeminent 
type of Christ. First, he had no legal successor/ 
nor predecessor. Secondly, he is essentially and 
truly the " King of righteousness and peace." 
Thirdly, " without father " as to his human nature, 
" or mother " as to his Godhead. Fourthly, no 
special time mentioned when his priesthood began, 
or when it should end — "without beginning of 
days or end of time." Fifthly, he is, like his 
bright type, both Priest and King. It is some- 
what remarkable that this mysterious "King of 
Salem and priest of the most high God " met 



230 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Abram when he was returning from his pursuit 
and overthrow of the Assyrian kings, with bread 
and wine, the very elements chosen by Christ as 
the proper emblems in the sacred supper to show 
forth his death. Nor should it be forgotten that 
Abram paid tithes to him and received his bless- 
ing, just as Christ, our great Priest-king, blesses 
all who bring their offerings into his store-house. 
See Malachi iii. 10. 

Christ also is an Intercessor, " He ever liveth 
to make intercession." Again, Paul says, " Who 
is even at the right hand of God, who also mak- 
eth intercession for us." He is likewise an advo- 
cate : " If any man sin, we have an advocate with 
the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous." We are 
not to conceive, however, that Jesus Christ bows 
down, or prostrates himself before the divine 
Majesty after the manner of suppliants at the feet 
of earthly monarchs ; his presence before the 
throne of Heaven is all-sufficient; his infinite 
merit pleads, " Father, forgive." 

Christ a King. 

It is declared, " Behold, I set my King upon my 
holy hill of Zion." "Ask of me, and I shall give 
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter- 
most parts of the earth for thy possession." All 
earthly monarchs, even the very best, are defi- 
cient in essential properties to wield the scepter 



man's new state of trial. 231 

of government, and guide unerringly the ship of 
State ; but Christ possesses every quality neces- 
sary -to the kingly office — wisdom, to direct and 
govern ; power, to defend his subjects ; justice, 
goodness, and truth, which will ever dispose him 
to advance and sustain their interests and happi- 
ness. The kingdom of Christ is a spiritual king- 
dom — " My kingdom is not of this world," it is 
from heaven ; hence, it is called the kingdom of 
heaven— it is set up in the hearts of his people. 
" Know ye not that the kingdom of God is within 
you ? " Christ is called in the Scriptures, " King 
of Zion," " King of saints," " King of peace," 
" King of glory," " King of kings and Lord of 
all;" King eternal, immortal, and invisible. Christ, 
as King, is infinitely above all earthly monarchs — 
they are mortal, he is immortal ; they temporary, 
he eternal. He is exalted far above all princi- 
pality, and power, and might, and dominion, and 
every name that is named, not only in the earth, 
but also in heaven. He is the "head over ail 
things to the Church, which is his body, the full- 
ness of him who filleth all in all." Eph. i. 22, 23. 
His laws are administered according to justice and 
truth — " Just and true are thy ways, thou King 
of saints." He will conduct his Church-kingdom 
to final victory over all opposing forces, for he 
" must reign till all his enemies be put under his 
feet ;." and " the kingdom .... and the greatness 



232 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be 
given to the people of the saints of the Most 
High." Dan. vii. 27. "And they shall live and 
reign with him." 

Repentance and Faith. 

The doctrine of repentance is extensively taught 
in the Scriptures — Christ taught it ta the self- 
righteous Jews : " Except ye repent, ye shall per- 
ish." Paul, in his sermon at Athens, in the midst 
of Mars' Hill, proclaimed it to the people : " Now 
he (God) commandeth all men everywhere to re- 
pent ;" and Peter said, " Repent ye, and be con- 
verted." 

In order to repentance, three things are indis- 
pensable : First, sorrow for sin ; secondly, reform- 
ation; thirdly, both must have respect to God. 
Hence, the apostle styled it, " Repentance toward 
God." 

A man may be sorry for his misdeeds, because 
they have brought upon him some temporal mis- 
fortune or bodily affliction, and his sorrow has re- 
spect to nothing higher than his disappointment 
in trade, or his physical sufferings, which have 
thwarted his schemes of speculation and of mak- 
ing money; his carnal indulgences may have 
brought upon him diseases which incapacitate 
him for their farther enjoyment, or his bad con- 
duct may have injured his popularity, for all 



man's new state of trial. 233 

which he is very sorry, but his regrets are con- 
fined within the narrow limits of worldly interests 
and enjoyments. All this may happen without 
any thorough reformation, and without any refer- 
ence to God. What is this but " the sorrow of 
the world, which worketh death ? " Reformation 
itself from motives of worldly gain, or to com- 
pass some selfish end, such as the applause of 
men, or to obtain political power and the emolu- 
ments of office. All such reformation has an eye 
single to things of this world, and no reference to 
God, against whose laws the offenses have been 
perpetrated. Such repentance can, by no means, 
be recognized as true repentance — such as the 
Apostle Paul preached. He preached "publicly 
and from house to house, repentance toivard God'' 
Hence, to be genuine, it must have special respect 
to God, against whom we have sinned ; and this 
is the reason why it is called repentance toward 
God. The world is full of repentance toward self 
and selfish ends, but comparatively very little to- 
ward God. True repentance is accompanied with 
a deep conviction of sin, and desert of punish- 
ment; also, with a sense of hardness of heart, a 
guilty and an accusing conscience, and a dread of 
future misery. A feeling also of utter helpless- 
ness and moral poverty is realized by the true 
penitent, and every other refuge sought for re- 
lief failing him, he looks to God and earnestly 



234 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

prays for pardon. As repentance is "toward 
God" so faith is " toivard our Lord Jesus Christ" 
Repentance makes humble and prayerful confes- 
sion of sin to God ; faith obtains remission through 
the blood of Christ. 

Is it inquired, What is faith ? Many sermons 
have been preached; and chapters written, in an- 
swer to this question, and who to-day is the wiser 
for it ? Can a better answer be given than is con- 
tained in Paul's definition : " Now faith is the sub- 
stance of things hoped for, and the evidence of 
things not seen?" This shows at once that faith, 
as defined by Paul, is something more than a 
mere act of the understanding. Thousands have 
given their cold assent to the truth of the Bible, 
and in this low and lifeless sense may be said to 
believe on Christ, that is, they do not disbelieve ; 
or, going a step farther, they may believe, in the 
popular sense of the term, from sufficient evidence, 
that the Christian system is true, and yet this be- 
lief has no deeper effect upon them than their be- 
lief that there was such a Roman as Julius Cesar, 
or such an American as Benjamin Franklin. Such 
faith is, so to speak, of the head ; it is merely in- 
tellectual. Whereas, it is " with the heart man 
believeth unto righteousness." "If thou shalt 
believe in thy heart thou shalt be saved." Recur- 
ring to what Paul says, it is a divine substantiality 
seated in the heart. Not that this divine sub- 



man's new state of trial. 235 

stance is, by a sovereign act of God, seated in the 
heart without the intellectual belief and the full 
and uncoerced acceptance of the heart. In this 
acceptance of Christ as a Saviour, he is brought 
into the heart, and this is what Christ means 
when he says, " I in them ;" and Paul, when he 
says, " If Christ be in you." Thus, in the be- 
lieving heart by faith he becomes the substance 
of its spiritual vitalities and realities. It stirs up 
and controls the deepest heart-emotions, and be- 
comes the ruling power of all the purposes and 
actions of life. "As seeing him who is invisible," 
it sees Jesus on the cross, suffering and dying for 
me; it sees him enthroned in heaven, wearing a 
crown of victory, a sure pledge of my victory. 
And this spiritual substance and sight, vitalized 
by and glowing with love, by which it " works," 
is what Paul calls faith. 

Another distinctive mark of saving faith is, 
that it purifies the heart ; it is the grand instru- 
ment of heart-purification. Peter, in relating to 
the elders and apostles, met in council, the events 
which occurred at the house of Cornelius, said 
that God "put no difference between us and 
them (Jews and Gentiles), purifying their hearts 
by faith." And as a third mark of distinction, it 
is victorious over the world. John says, "And 
this is the victory that overcometh the world, 
even our faith? Now, none of these character- 



236 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

istics will apply to any but saving faith ; neither 
that species of faith called the faith of miracles, 
nor historical faith, nor yet the faith of devils, 
will admit their application; although some in 
Christ's day, who were healed of their infirmities, 
seemed to exercise saving faith as well as faith to 
be healed of their bodily diseases, yet we must 
believe there were some who did not ; if so, 
their mere belief that he could heal them neither 
" worked by love, nor purified their hearts, nor 
overcame the world." The same may be said of 
historical faith, and the faith of devils. 

That the above distinctive marks belong to 
faith unto salvation, is farther evident when we 
remember that there is no true religion without 
love ; a mere profession is but as sounding brass. 
The Christian faith is seated, not in the intellect 
merely, but deep in the heart, inclusive of the 
affections as well as of the intellect ; not specu- 
lative or ideal, but a spiritual subsistence — a liv- 
ing power ever drawing upon the infinite re- 
sources of the life and power of Christ, its au- 
thor and finisher. Never in any heart did this 
faith exist in the absence of love ; as well might 
animal life exist without animal heat. Faith and 
love are simultaneous in existence and coopera- 
tive in action ; hence, " faith worketh by love." 

Again, the heart is never purified in the absence 
of faith. It appeals directly to the blood of Christ, 



man's new state of trial. 237 

" which cleanseth from all sin ; " and for this reason 
it is said to purify the heart. Faith, in receiving 
Christ for a Saviour, receives him not only as an 
atoning, but also as a victorious, Saviour ; and his 
victory is, in " substance," the victory of faith, 
since it is what the Christian " hopes for." Hence, 
faith is said to be the victory that overcometh. 
Numerous instances of its mighty conquests are 
collected, as in a bright constellation, and recorded 
in Heb. xi. 

The question whether faith is the act of the 
creature or the gift of God has been the subject 
of much speculation. The act of the creature ? 
The more we study in the light of the Bible the 
nature of faith, the less we regard it an act, in the 
human sense of the term. In this latter sense 
the assent of the understanding to propositions 
which may be laid before it may properly be con- 
sidered an act ; it is the yielding of credence, or 
it is belief, in the human sense, and is an intellect- 
ual act. Such faith is the act of the creature in 
regard to history — faith that Christ was a healer 
of the body — and is even the act of demons ; but 
this faith does not meet the case as it is put by 
Paul. He says faith is the substance of things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Can 
this substance-evidence be an act of the creature? 
This, certainly, is the gift of God, concurrent upon 
his part with the free acceptance upon the part of 



238 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the sinner ; and this free acceptance is all of the 
action upon the part of the creature, and, although 
it involves his moral freedom, it bears but little 
comparison to the value of the gift which is the 
substance of what he freely receives. In the sub- 
stantive evidence of faith is included Christ, who 
is made, to as many as receive him, "wisdom, 
righteousness, sanctifi cation, and redemption." In 
this way may Ave not come to understand the 
meaning of Paul, when he says that Abraham's 
faith "was imputed to him for righteousness?" 
This, we think, is plain, taking faith in the light 
of the apostle's definition ; also, that other passage, 
where it is said, "It is of faith that it might be by 
grace ; " and again, " Not to him that worketh, but 
to him that worketh not but believeth," or receives 
Christ in his faith, which gives it a substantive 
vitality. Thus Christ is in the creature's faith, 
which brings Christ into the heart, and brings, at 
the same time, the creature into Christ. Hear 
the intercessory prayer: "As thou, Father, art in 
me and I in thee, that they may be one in us" 
Again, he says, " I in them, and thou in me, that 
they may be made perfect in one;" "If any man 
be in Christ he is a new creature;" and "If Christ 
be in you the body is dead because of sin, but the 
spirit is life because of righteousness." Now, the 
carnal bond is severed ; the believer is brought out 
of his captivity to " the law of sin and death," 



man's new state of trial. 239 

and comes under the "perfect law of liberty" — 
"the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus," 
which makes the believer free from the " law of 
sin and death;" all which is accomplished in faith, 
"and that (in its substantive life) not of your- 
selves: it is the gift of God." As morally free 
by a gracious dispensation, it was yours willingly 
to accept, in which there could be no more merit 
than in a starving man's acceptance of a loaf of 
bread. Hence, salvation is all of grace. The 
glory all be given to God. Let Jesus Christ be 
exalted above the heavens ; let the sinner, saved, 
be humbled at his footstool. 

From the apostle's definition of faith, and from 
the distinctive marks it bears — as working by love, 
purifying the heart, and achieving the victory over 
the world — it is quite evident that it not only in- 
cludes the free, uncoerced reception of salvation, 
but vastly more : it includes this, and has con- 
joined with the reception, the "substance," "the 
evidence of things not seen." What if we should 
call it the act of the heart? David represents his 
heart as talking: "When thou saidst unto me, 
Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy 
face, Lord, will I seek." This is but expressing 
in words the act of his heart. Receiving Christ, 
then, is a heart act, including all the moral powers 
of the inner man — a heart-election of Christ as an 
all-sufficient Saviour, the spiritual substantive life 



240 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

of faith. Without this there is no saving faith; 
all else is merely human, and comes of our natural 
faculties. 

Faith the Condition of Salvation. 

If it be not the condition upon which God pro- 
poses to save men, what is it? Some hold, and 
teach, that it is a consequence of regeneration ; 
but this is far from satisf3 r ing the question, for 
Christ and his apostles required faith of unregen- 
erate men : " Except ye believe that I am he, ye 
shall die in your sins;" " Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." But if 
faith is a consequence of regeneration, what then? 
These persons might have replied, and justly, too, 
First give us a new heart, and then, and not till 
then, can we believe ; so your preaching to us to 
believe is labor lost — is all in vain — for it is im- 
possible for us to believe until our hearts are re- 
newed ; and besides, you are inconsistent in mak- 
ing such a requirement. 

If the salvation of men is not conditioned upon 
faith, upon what is it conditioned ? Here, again, 
we are told that it is unconditional, so far as men 
are personally concerned. Then, it follows that 
if they are saved at all they are saved without a 
condition with which they, as moral free agents, 
may or may not comply. Such a procedure upon 
the part of God would collide with his own work, 



man's new state of trial. 241 

for he has endowed man with moral freedom capa- 
ble of choosing his own destiny; and to fix his 
destiny for him without consulting him, and, by 
consequence, without his consent, would ignore his 
moral freedom and let him down upon a lower 
plane, upon a common level with animals that have 
no souls and no moral liberty. But if Deity lays 
down a condition with which man may or may not 
comply, then he deals with him as an intelligent 
being endowed with moral freedom, and leaves a 
margin for calling him to an account for the use he 
has made of his moral liberty, and for rewarding 
or punishing him accordingly. But, after all, it 
must be acknowledged that there is in Christian, 
or saving, faith something somewhat difficult of 
solution to the believer himself, and far more dif- 
ficult to explain to others; but this need not 
startle us, since it is interlinked with the spiritual 
union between Christ and his Church, which Paul 
declares (Eph. v. 32) to be "a great mystery." 
The difficulty of conveying intelligibly ideas of 
spiritual things in human language proves its im- 
potence and utter poverty. The heart alone is the 
best interpreter of the things of the Spirit. 

In our remarks upon faith we have endeavored 
to adhere as closely as possible to Paul's definition 
of it ; and our object in so doing is to guard against 
the error of humanizing and confounding it with 
the common belief among men, which is merely 
11 



242 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

human. To mistake this for saving faith would 
be fatal, which, w T e have but too much reason to 
fear, has been done by many superficial outside 
Christians. Such persons, having a name to live, 
are dead, because they have no other than a dead 
faith. The most effectual guard against this de- 
structive error is to be found only in Paul's divine- 
ly-inspired definition of true faith, which, by no 
means, can be applied to any other species of faith, 
or belief, without giving his definition a forced 
construction. 

True gospel faith is also guarded by its distinct- 
ive scriptural marks — working by love, purifying 
the heart, and victory over the world. 

Of Justification. 

The terms "justification" and u justify" are of 
frequent occurrence in the Scriptures. There are 
several senses in which the term is used, and sev- 
eral applications, according to the character to 
whom applied. Justification has an allusion to 
law, or courts of law, and, in the strictly religious 
sense, it refers to the law of God. In order to a 
correct view of the subject, we may notice three 
characters: (1) as innocent, or upright and holy; 
(2) as a sinner, but penitent and believing; (3) as 
believing and regenerated. 

I. As our first progenitor, while maintaining his 
original purity, was uncondemned by the law of 



man's new state of trial. 243 

God, he stood in a justified state, since justifica- 
tion is the opposite of condemnation. 

II. As a penitent believing sinner. Justifica- 
tion in this sense is an act of God, as a supreme 
and merciful Ruler, wherein he forgives the sins 
of those who repent sincerely and believe on Jesus 
Christ, and gives them a title to eternal life solely 
on account of his obedience and satisfaction. That 
it is a judicial act of God is evident from the fact 
that the term is used in the sense of to acquit one 
in judgment — to account him righteous in the eye 
of the law. In proof of this, consider the follow- 
ing passages of Scripture in reference to corrupt 
judges who are bribed to acquit those who ought 
in justice to be punished : " Woe unto them which 
justify the wicked for reward." " He that Justi- 
ne th the wicked and condemneth the just are both 
an abomination to the Lord." It is the act of God 
in regard to the believing penitent. " It is God 
that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?" 

In justification there is remission of sins. This 
God does as a merciful Governor, whose mercy, 
in Christ, extends free pardon to all who repent 
and believe, since God only can forgive sins. 
There is also included a title to eternal life. Par- 
don of sins and a title to life are joined together. 
" That they may receive forgiveness of sins and 
inheritance among them which are sanctified." A 
similar title would have been secured to Adam had 



244 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

he successfully passed his trial and come off from 
the scene of his temptation victorious. His title 
to life, however, would not have heen predicated 
upon the same ground as that of the pardoned 
sinner — the atonement of Christ. Adam not hav- 
ing sinned, and having no need of an atonement, 
would have secured the title upon the ground of 
his own personal obedience ; but man, through the 
fall, being dead in trespasses and in sins, and hav- 
ing lost all ability to work, must be pardoned, if 
pardoned at all, and obtain his title to life through 
the atonement of Christ, upon the condition of 
faith, which stands in contrast to worJcs. Hence, 
the doctrine of justification by faith, as taught by 
Paul, "without the deeds of the law," and "by 
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justi- 
fied in his sight." The doctrine of justification by 
faith was the key which unlocked to Luther the 
rich treasures of gospel truth, and which he con- 
verted into a mighty engine to shake and breach 
the strongholds of the Romish hierarchy. Paul's 
" man of sin " trembled on his throne, while con- 
fusion and dismay spread through all his domin- 
ions. By this doctrine and its cognates he and 
his co-workers wrought out, under God, a mighty 
reformation — emancipating the minds of men for 
centuries held in slavery by the Romish priest- 
hood. The heart of true religion, inspired with 
fresh life-powers, began to beat in unison with the 



man's new state of trial. 245 

truths of the gospel, and letters, long buried, 
awaking frdm their death-like slumbers, began to 
shed light upon the great subjects of religious and 
political freedom. Justification by faith was the 
great Reformer's central point, whence radiated 
the mighty forces which shook terribly the foun- 
dations of Romish superstition and idolatry. 

This doctrine is taught at large in the Epistle 
to the Romans, a considerable portion of the third 
and fourth chapters, with the commencement of 
the fifth, being devoted to that subject. The 
apostle treats (1) of the ground, or consideration, 
upon which God consistently with his justice can 
justify the believer, which is the propitiatory sac- 
rifice of Christ; (2) the merit of the offering 
styled "his righteousness" is declared "for the 
remission of sins," " that he (God) might be just 
and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus." 
(See Rom. iii. 24, 25, 26.) The principal object 
of Paul, in this part of his epistle, appears to have 
been to correct an error then prevalent, at least 
among the Jews, that men were justified in the 
sight of God by their works. This unhappy blun- 
der was the prolific source of boastful Pharisaical 
self-righteousness, which characterized the most 
popular and influential portion of that people, and 
hung as a dark veil over the nation at large. Self- 
reliant, they set at naught the righteousness of 
Christ, and Christ with it, hoping to destroy him 



246 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

and, by consequence,, the only true ground of justi- 
fication " before God." In this is seen the culmi- 
nation of this ruinous error. It sets up self, and 
puts down Christ; it is truly dangerous; but, 
dangerous as it is, it is not confined to the Jews, 
but is to-day embraced by many, and relied upon 
for justification and future happiness. What a 
slender reed ! When support is most needed, it 
will break and pierce the hand of him who holds it. 
Imputation of Christ's righteousness for justi- 
fication. This appears to be the Scripture doc- 
trine. Here, to aid in clearing our views, we 
refer again to the first father of mankind. Had 
he resisted the tempter, and confirmed his obedi- 
ence to God, he would have been justified in Ms 
own righteousness ; but now fallen, and having 
none of his own, he must be justified by that of 
another, and that is the righteousness of Christ — 
not man's own, but Christ's imputed to him. The 
imputation of the righteousness of Christ to men 
beautifully corresponds to the imputation of their 
sins to him. Of sin, he had none of his own, but 
sin was imputed to him; of righteousness, men 
have none of their own, but righteousness is im- 
puted to them. And as Christ, without coercion 
or constraint, took upon him our sins and " bore 
them in his own body " to his condemnation and 
penal suffering and death, so we freely, without 
coercion, receive his righteousness for justifica- 



man's new state of trial. 247 

tion and freedom from penal suffering and death, 
and for a title to life everlasting. 

To receive Christ is to believe on him. "As 
many as received him, to them gave he power to 
become the Sons of God, even to them that be- 
lieve on his name." The free acceptance of 
Christ, or his righteousness unto justification and 
life, divinely harmonizes with his unconstrained 
acceptance of sin to his condemnation to death. 
In these transactions of infinite concern Ave see 
upon the stage two personages : upon the one 
hand we see the first Adam of the earth, a 
condemned sinner; upon the other, the second 
Adam, the Lord from heaven. The first has lost 
life with God ; the second has come to restore it. 
To this end it is indispensable that the second 
make an atonement for the first, that he may be 
redeemed from the curse or penalty of the law he 
has violated, and for this purpose he takes on 
himself the nature of the first, and having no sin 
of his own, he assumes, in the eye of the violated 
law, the place of the violator. 

In each of these personages we also find moral 
freedom, the one inherently and absolutely free ; 
the other, subordinately free by a divine and gra- 
cious dispensation. The one freely and volunta- 
rily accepts, by imputation, the sins of the other, 
and suffers death, the impending penalty ; meets 
the demands of the law, vindicates its honor and 



248 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

glory, and so working out a righteousness equiva- 
lent to its demands in the room of the other "de- 
clares " it, and offers it to him for his justification 
unto life upon the simple condition of his volun- 
tary acceptance. The other, in the right use of 
his moral freedom, graciously bestowed, freely and 
voluntarily responds to the offer, and through 
faith accepts or receives the unspeakable boon of 
righteousness which is now imputed to him for his 
justification, involving the full pardon of sin and 
an indefeasible title to eternal life ; the whole mo- 
mentous concern is ratified in heaven. Upon the 
part of the second Adam it is proclaimed, " This 
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased ;" 
upon the part of the first, " He that believeth on 
the Son hath everlasting life." What a plan ! 
Eternity would have been too short for human 
wisdom to have guessed it. 

In all these infinitely important transactions, 
upon the consummation of which hangs the eter- 
nal destiny of men, we see none of the inefface- 
able foot-prints of fate — nothing of the overpow- 
ering forces of secret, unchangeable decrees. How 
could we, since we are told they are secret? "Se- 
cret things belong to God," and of course are not 
revealed ; and to say this thing or that was se- 
cretly decreed, is to say we " are wise above what 
is written." 

We see nothing of sovereign, absolute interpo- 



man's new state of trial. 249 

sition arresting the sinner in "effectual calling" 
and in regenerating him without his consent ; noth- 
ing of an unconditional surrender, as though he 
were a horse ; nothing of unconditional salvation, 
as if he were as destitute of moral freedom as 
things of the lowest life, or as dead matter ; but 
we see on both sides the enthronement of moral 
freedom ; we see at every step its outgoings from 
its beginning to its consummation. We see Jesus 
Christ in the exercise of his inherent, independ- 
ent moral freedom, receiving by imputation the 
sins of mankind — bearing them in his own body — 
making " an end " of them " by the sacrifice of 
himself," and bring in an everlasting righteousness 
to be declared for the remission of sin, that God 
might be just in the justification of all that be- 
lieve. We see a free tender of this meritorious 
consideration, the merits of Christ, made to the 
sinner to whom " it shall be imputed " if he " con- 
tinue not in unbelief." Lastly, we see the sinner 
in the right use of his moral freedom, receiving 
Christ who is the " end of the law for righteous- 
ness to every one that believes." In all this it is 
clear, beyond successful controversy, that faith is 
the condition upon which justification, or remis- 
sion, of sin is obtained. This point of doctrine 
is fully established by the Apostle Paul when 
speaking of the faith of Abraham, which faith, 
he says (meaning the substance of his faith, that 
11* 



250 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

is, Christ), was imputed to him for righteousness. 
" Now," he continues, " it was not written for his 
sake alone, that it was imputed ; but for ours also, 
to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him 
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead." 
Here it is clearly manifest that the imputation of 
Christ's righteousness for justification and remis- 
sion of sins is conditioned upon faith; for the 
apostle says, " To whom it shall be imputed, if ive 
believe." And what follows as an unavoidable con- 
clusion ? It is this, If we believe not, it shall not 
be imputed. And if those teachers in Israel, 
many of them learned, talented, and useful, would 
once admit that salvation is conditional, which, 
we think, in all good faith and fairness, they ought 
to do, they would be compelled to relinquish the 
doctrine of eternal election and reprobation ; for 
this doctrine admits of no condition whatever, but 
makes salvation upon the part of the elect, and 
perdition upon the part of the reprobate, uncondi- 
tional. The simple admission that human salva- 
tion is conditioned upon faith in Jesus Christ, 
clears up the mystery supposed to envelop the 
doctrine of eternal predestination, which has been 
acknowledged as "highly mysterious" Mysteri- 
ous, indeed, it is, when it is made to embrace and 
determine the everlasting happiness or misery of 
rational, accountable free agents ; for then it is 
hard to see how it can consist with man's moral 



man's new state of trial. 251 

freedom, or how the ways of God are equal, or 
how he is impartial and no respecter of persons, or 
how Christ takes upon him the human nature, and 
in that whole nature suffers and dies, and makes 
an atonement for a part only of human kind, or 
with what propriety God can reward the elect and 
punish the reprobate, or how he could predestine 
a part of the infantile world " dying in infancy to 
be saved, and all the rest thus dying to be lost." 
Now all this mysteriousness has been thrown 
around the doctrine of predestination by giving 
it a wrong application — by placing within its grasp 
of fatality the personal eternal destiny of intelli- 
gent, accountable beings, endowed with moral free- 
dom. Let it include all creation bek>AV man in 
the scale of being, but coming " hitherto," let it 
"come no farther;" let it not fix unchangeably 
and unconditionally the everlasting happiness or 
misery of men ; and the single admission that sal- 
vation is conditioned upon faith, loosens its sup- 
posed hold upon rational man, and clears away 
those inscrutable mysteries which men themselves 
have thrown around it. If men continue in un- 
belief, it is at their own peril. "He that believ- 
eth shall be saved ; he that believeth not shall be 
damned." The believer shall joyfully hear, " Come, 
ye blessed of my Father ;" the unbeliever, " De- 
part from me." 



252 medium theology. 

Regeneration and Adoption. 

Moral harmony is indispensable to moral hap- 
piness. This harmony between God and man 
was destroyed by sin. God is a holy being. By 
sin man became unholy. He assumed a nature 
opposed to the nature of God. Disharmony is 
the consequence. To restore the lost harmony 
between God and man, by removing or " putting 
away " the disturbing element, Christ died upon 
the cross, by virtue of which sin may not only 
be pardoned, but its pollution removed from the 
heart by the power of the Holy Spirit in regen- 
eration. 

This divine change is variously designated in 
the Scriptures, such as a new creation — " created 
anew in Christ Jesus." " If any man be in Christ 
he is a new creature." Also by purifying or 
washing — "By the washing of regeneration and 
the renewing of the Holy Ghost;" by passing 
" from death unto life ;" by being " born again," 
" born of God," " born of the Spirit." " Except 
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can- 
not enter into the kingdom of God." Admitting 
that the water of outward baptism is here meant, 
it is but the visible sign or symbol of the inward 
grace of regeneration ; just as circumcision was a 
sign or figure of the circumcision of the heart, as 
Paul teaches, that " he is not a Jew, which is one 



man's new state of trial. 253 

outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is 
outward in the flesh ; but he is a Jew, which is 
one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the 
heart, in the spirit." The symbol is not unfre- 
quently joined to the thing symbolized, and some- 
times by metonomy put for it, as in John vii. 38 : 
" He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath 
said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
water." Here the " rivers of living w T ater," the 
symbol, is put for the Spirit, as is shown by the 
explanation immediately subjoined, " This spake 
he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him 
should receive." Also the bread and wine of the 
sacred supper : the bread is called the body, and 
the wine the blood, of Christ. Another instance 
occurs in 1 Pet. iii. 21, in speaking of the ark, 
where " eight souls were saved by water," which 
was a figure of spiritual salvation by Christ. Peter 
says, " The like figure whereunto even baptism doth 
also now save us ;" that is, as Noah's salvation by 
water literally was then a figure of salvation by 
Christ, so baptism is now a figure of salvation by 
the purifying power of the Spirit, " not the putting 
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of 
a good conscience." Thus, when in the just quoted 
passage it is said we are saved by baptism, which 
Peter says is a figure, we are to understand by it 
nothing more than a figure, or an outward symbol 
of inward purification by the Holy Spirit. 



254 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Many other texts are rightly interpreted in the 
same way, as when the words of Christ are said 
to be Spirit and life, and when the word is called 
" the sword." In such passages the spiritual idea 
is lodged in the figurative. Men whose minds are 
carnal, not " knowing the Scriptures and the power 
of God," are liable greatly to err. Taking hold 
of the figurative idea, they perceive not the spir- 
itual one, like the image of the sun cradled in the 
dew-drop. Hence the overweening importance 
that many are disposed to attach to external rites 
and ordinances. This was the great error of the 
carnal Jews ; and being blind to the deeper mean- 
ing or spiritual significance of the types and fig- 
ures, they mistook the sign for the thing signified 
— the shadow for the substance ; and, trusting in 
their performance of outward ceremonies for right- 
eousness, they rejected the Messiah and lost their 
souls. 

The pure religion of the Bible has been greatly 
imposed upon in every age by being diluted, or 
rather corrupted, with an admixture of human tra- 
ditions and speculations. From this source have 
sprung schisms and heresies endangering the soul 
by false notions of radical doctrines, and none at 
greater hazard than erroneous views of the doc- 
trine of regeneration. 

I. The necessity of regeneration grows out of 
the depravity of man's fallen nature. Human 



MAN S NEW STATE OF TRIAL. 



255 



nature, pure and holy, needs no change, since that 
nature would then harmonize with the nature of 
God, which harmony is the indispensable condi- 
tion of communion with him — of dwelling in his 
presence in peace and happiness. 

The moral purity of God and the moral corrup- 
tion of man is a contradiction which cannot be 
reconciled. There is no moral affinity between 
sin and holiness. Holiness cannot love sin, nor 
sin holiness. God hates evil and evil hates God. 
" The carnal mind is enmity to God," and " the 
face of the Lord is against them that do evil." 
Heaven, a pure and holy place, can never tolerate 
the presence of a sin-polluted, fallen spirit — a 
being whose delight would be in blaspheming the 
name of God, slighting all overtures of goodness 
and mocking the divine authority. Such a being 
in heaven would be tenfold more hideous than 
the specter in the vision of Eliphaz ; the angels 
and the redeemed and pure would quit his neigh- 
borhood, and leave him, if possible, in eternal sol- 
itude. Like a mountain shadow, he would darken 
the light of heaven. Never could such a sin-pol- 
luted being be permitted to dwell within the pure 
and hallowed precincts of the paradise of God. 
Such is man's moral condition; his nature de- 
praved — unlike God — no relish for his enjoyment, 
and no spiritual aptitude for either the society or 
the employments of the holy inmates of heaven. 



256 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Hence the necessity of regeneration. "Ye must 
be born again." 

II. But what is the nature of the change called 
regeneration? 1. It does not respect our phys- 
ical organism ; neither does it respect the instincts, 
appetites, and passions of our animal nature, ex- 
cept so far as they are controlled and governed by 
the new moral principle implanted in the soul. 
2. Regeneration does not respect our mental or- 
ganization. The faculties of the mind remain as 
they were — none are taken away, no new ones are 
given ; they remain as they were before regenera- 
tion, except so far as the new principle may shed 
light upon and incline the rational powers to move 
in their sphere more congenial to the new nature. 
The understanding is to the mind what the eye is 
to the body, and spiritual light is to the under- 
standing what natural light is to the eye. The 
subject of regeneration is, "No more darkness, 
but light in the Lord." The understanding en- 
lightened, the moral perception cleared up, he sees 
spiritual things in a new and captivating dress, so 
that the mental in religious concerns takes a direc- 
tion subordinate to the new moral nature. 

III. Regeneration has for its direct, or imme- 
diate, object the soul, or spirit. Christ said, " That 
which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The soul 
is the fountain of moral impurity; it must be 
cleansed, must be "created anew in Christ Jesus." 






man's new state of trial. 257 

The old corrupt nature, called " the old man/' is 
changed, and in regeneration we are said to be re- 
newed in the inner man — to be "renewed after the 
image of him that created him." 

This change finds its analogy in human expe- 
rience. What changes have been effected by skill 
and culture in regard to both animals and vegeta- 
bles! The most ferocious animals are tamed, and 
seem almost to possess a new nature, and some of 
the wildest have been made subservient to useful 
ends. So also with vegetables, the fruits of which, 
in their wild state being quite insipid and scarcely 
edible, have been so changed in their qualities as 
to appear almost entirely new. Now, suppose a 
horticulturist possessed skill and power sufficient 
to produce at once a radical change in the nature 
and quality of one of his bad fruit-trees, so that 
ever after it shall produce good fruit. This, it 
may be said, would be a great and mysterious 
change, and beyond the skill and power of mortals. 
Even so; but not beyond the wisdom and power 
of God. He formed man of the dust, and so fash- 
ioned him that he is "wonderfully and fearfully 
made;" and he who first "breathed into man the 
breath of life," and raised him up a " living soul" 
can re-create — " create anew " — that spiritually 
dead soul, and raise it up to "newness of life." 
This is regeneration ; it is what is called the new 
birth. 



258 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

IV. The efficient agent in regeneration is the 
Holy Ghost, the third person of the Godhead. 
John iii. 6 : " That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh ; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." 
John vi. 63: "The Spirit quickeneth; the flesh 
profiteth nothing." 2 Cor. iii. 18 : " But we all, 
with open face beholding as in a glass the glory 
of the Lord, are changed into the same image, 
.... even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 

The subjects of this change are made partakers 
of the Divine nature, which is holiness. The Di- 
vine image lost by the fall is restored. The same 
almighty Agent that moved upon the dark abyss 
and brought forth order, light, and life, and that 
breathed into the first man the breath of life, and 
raised him up a "living soul," and pronounced him 
"very good," is the Agent who creates anew and 
inspires into the dark and dead in sin the breath 
of spiritual life, and he becomes a living soul ; and 
thus men are born of God a second time, and a 
second time God, well pleased with his work, de- 
clares it "very good." If, man, in the first case, 
shone forth in the bright image of God, so he does 
in the second ; if he received light and life from 
God in the first, so he does in the second ; and if, 
upon the consummation of God's original work, the 
morning stars sang together and all the sons of 
God shouted for joy, they but repeat the paean 
over repenting sinners, " born again," " created anew 



man's new state of trial. 259 

in Christ Jesus." These newly-created are nc-AV 
placed in the Lord's garden, and he says to them, 
" Dress it, and keep it." But here, too, is present 
the serpent, the evil spirit. How shall they escape 
his seductive power? "Be not afraid." He ex- 
hausted all his resources of power and skill upon 
Christ, the second Adam, and failed of success. 
Christ won the victory. Not in yourself, but in 
him, you stand ; his victory is yours through faith 
in him. "And this is the victory, even our faith." 

The regenerated, quickened into life in Christ, 
"are dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God." 
The dominion of sin is broken down — the king- 
dom of Christ, the reign of grace, is set up ; sin 
shall not any more " have the dominion." 

To the regeneration, the new creation, of souls 
converged all the measures adopted by Infinite 
Wisdom and Love, and every path trodden by the 
Son of God, from Bethlehem to the cross, and the 
grave, and from the grave to Mount Olivet, and 
from Mount Olivet to the throne of God. In re- 
generation begins, in the right direction, the new 
development, which is to be perfected through suf- 
fering and sanctification of the Spirit. 

The fruits of regeneration by the Spirit are love, 
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, 
patience, faith. "Against such there is no law." 

Adoption is, in a general sense, an act by which 
one is taken into the familv of another and owned 



260 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

as a child and made an heir to the estate of the 
person who adopts him. Adoption was practiced 
by the Grecians and Romans, but we do not find 
any thing concerning it in the law of Moses, or 
that it was practiced by the ancient Hebrews. It 
is a doctrine clearly taught in the Christian writ- 
ings, and clearly implies that by sin we have for- 
feited our sonship, the favor of God, and oar title 
to the inheritance of eternal life. 

Adoption is the act of God by which we are 
received into his family and treated as children. 
Though heretofore aliens and enemies, yet having 
become reconciled, sought and obtained pardon 
through faith in Christ, by which we become the 
children of God and are made "heirs of God and 
joint-heirs with Christ," all who are adopted into 
God's spiritual family receive the "spirit of a son." 
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth 
the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba 
Father." 

" The Spirit of adoption " is the Spirit that 
bears witness with our spirit that we are the chil- 
dren of God. In this divine testimony we have 
an assurance of our acceptance with God. This 
assurance is doubtless stronger in some than in 
others, and in the same person not always strong 
alike ; yet " the full assurance of faith " is the 
privilege of all the members of God's family. 
There are also other great and peculiar privileges 



man's new state of trial. 261 

flowing from adoption and sonship. The apostle 
encourages believers, as the children of God, to 
"draw nigh" to him, their Heavenly Father. 
They may approach him not merely as a Friend, 
but as a Father, who takes infinite delight in giv- 
ing good gifts to his children. This divine privi- 
lege of access is accompanied not with servile or 
slavish, but filial, fear — such as is felt in the sim- 
plicity and confidence of childhood when approach- 
ing a loving parent ; and from this confidence and 
trust, resulting from adoption, springs the joyful 
expectation of the final possession of the promised 
inheritance in heaven. 

Of Sanctification. 

The term " sanctify," in the Old Testament, 
generally signifies to set apart from a common to 
a sacred, or holy, end ; to consecrate to God cer- 
tain things as belonging to him, and to be used 
exclusively in his worship and service. Such were 
the house of God, the temple at Jerusalem, the 
sacrificial offerings, and all the vessels and uten- 
sils of the ceremonial service. Sometimes it sig- 
nifies outward typical cleansing, or purification, as 
giving a legal right to the privileges of the Jewish 
Church and worship. In all these senses the term 
is used in the Old Testament Scriptures. Moses 
commanded the Israelites to sanctify, or duly pre- 
pare, themselves to witness the terrible displays 



262 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

of the power and majesty of God upon Mount 
Sinai. God sanctified the Sabbath as a day of 
rest, and Christ said, " For their sakes I sanctify 
myself" — consecrate, set myself apart, as a sacri- 
fice-offering to God for the sins of the world. In 
the highest sense of the term, it means cleansing 
the soul from sin and moral pollution in regenera- 
tion by the power of the Holy Spirit, and an in- 
crease and growth in the divine life, whereby we 
are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live 
unto holiness. In this latter sense we shall con- 
sider the subject. 

I. The doctrine of sanctification, in this sense, 
holds a prominent place in the Scriptures. Paul 
says (Eph. v. 25, 26), " Even as Christ also loved 
the Church and gave himself for it ; that he might 
sanctify and cleanse it;" and Peter addresses the 
saints to whom he wrote (1 Pet. i. 2) as " elect 
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, 
through sanctification of the Spirit," and belief 
of the truth. We are admonished to " be perfect, 
even as our Heavenly Father is perfect;" and 
Paul says, " This I wish, even your perfection." 
We are, however, not to consider this as absolute 
perfection, but only as relative and in degree. A 
state of impeccability, or sinless perfection, is not 
to be expected, on this side the grave. Until the 
final victory in death, which will seal the conquest, 
the " law in the members," or earthly carnal side 



man's new state of trial. 263 

of our nature, continues the warfare. "He that 
saith he hath no sin deceiveth himself; " and where 
is the "just man that liveth and sinneth not?" 
This world, in its present moral state, would not 
be a suitable abode for a perfectly pure being. 
True, Christ was pure without the stain of sin of 
his own, but then " he was made sin for us," and 
bore the sins of the world in his own body. When 
the saint is fully qualified for heaven he has no 
other congenial residence, and to that holy place 
of abode he is removed. This is in keeping with 
every-day life : when his grain is ripe, the judicious 
husbandman reaps and gathers it ; while growing, 
the field was its suitable locality, but now it is 
ripe, let it be garnered. After all, there is little 
danger of too rapid a growth in grace or too high 
attainments in Christian perfection; the danger 
lies on the other side of the question. It is too 
often the case that when we ought to be teachers 
we ourselves have need to be taught the rudi- 
mental principles of religion. Babes in Christ, we 
continue in the cradle almost until we are laid in 
the coffin. The efficient labors in the Lord's vine- 
yard, consequent upon spiritual manhood, are lost, 
the talent committed not more than half improved, 
and the light of such Christians shines but dimly 
half their days. 

II. Sanctification is instantaneous in its begin- 
ning, but progressive in its completion. It begins 



264 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

in regeneration, which is instantaneous. We have 
good reason to believe that the change which 
passed upon man, from holiness to sin, was instan- 
taneous ; so likewise the change from sin to holi- 
ness. There cannot be any middle ground ; at 
the moment, we are either converted or uncon- 
verted, regenerate or unregenerate. There is no 
middle ground between life and death. God 
breathed into man the breath of life, and he be- 
came a living soul. The darkness of sin is upon 
the face of the deep, the Spirit moves, and God 
says, "Let there be light," and there is light. 
Now, "ye are not darkness, but light in the Lord." 
Although this great moral change is alike instan- 
taneous in all, yet its evidences may be clearer to 
some than to others. One blind man has his eyes 
open and sees men as trees walking, yet he sees; 
another sees clearer and in a more satisfactory 
manner. Thomas was the last to credit the report 
of his Lord's resurrection. This report was, upon 
sufficient evidence, believed by the other disciples, 
but he must have additional testimony, or he will 
not be satisfied ; and as it was in the case of this 
doubter so it may be with some who have been 
regenerated — although the change has really oc- 
curred, the evidence of it is not yet sufficiently 
full and clear to settle the question beyond nil 
doubt. This may be all for the best, in the infinite 
wisdom of Him who makes all things "work for 



man's new state of trial. 265 

good to them that love God." We should be 
careful, however, to discriminate between an ex- 
perimental knowledge of a change (and a great 
one, too) and the evidence that the change we have 
experienced is, truly, regeneration. Although the 
change is essentially the same in all, the evidence 
of it may be afforded to different persons in differ- 
ent degrees, "as every one has need." But the 
full assurance to all is attainable : draw nigh to 
God and he will draw nigh to you, and his Spirit 
will witness with your spirit that you are a child 
of God. 

III. As there must be a certain moment when 
regeneration takes place, so there is a time when 
sanctification begins. This is simultaneous with 
regeneration. From this time it proceeds pro- 
gressively. Hence the Scripture illustrations: 
" The babe, the young man, the man of perfect 
stature" — "the corn, the blade, the full corn in 
the ear;" the Divine admonition, also, to "grow 
in grace," to " abound," to " go on to perfection." 
All this signifies a progressive work. 

IV. The work of sanctification is carried on by 
the agency of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the 
hearts of God's children. The new life-powers 
inspired by him in regeneration are by him kept 
in a state of activity and development ;*and the 
holy spiritual life-forces of the new nature are as 
capable of growth, strength, and development as 

12 



266 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

are the physical and mental powers of humanity. 
To strengthen and develop the powers of the phys- 
ical and mental there must be food administered 
adapted to their growth and enlargement ; so the 
new moral man must receive the aliment adapted 
to his new spiritual powers, in order to their growth 
and development. The food upon which the new 
man feeds is the word of God, "as it is written, 
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every 
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." 
The children of God have "bread" which the men 
of the world know not of. The Christian, while 
a babe, has need of milk ; there is the " sincere 
milk of the word, that he may grow thereby;" 
when he has grown strong, and " able to bear it," 
he finds in the inspired word the spiritual "strong 
meat" adapted to his advanced condition. Here 
he learns that Christ's "'sheep hear his voice," 
"they follow" him; that "he gives them eternal 
life, and they shall never perish;" that his grace is 
"sufficient for them;" that they shall be "delivered 
out of temptations;" that "tribulation worketh 
patience;" and that "the light afflictions" of his 
followers "work out for them a far more exceed- 
ing and eternal weight of glory." These things, 
to the spiritual man, the new nature, are meat and 
drink indeed; by such spiritual food spiritual 
growth is promoted. The powers of the new 
moral nature developed and expanded, the work 



man's new state of trial. 267 

of sanctification progresses, until the flesh is 
brought into subjection to the Spirit — "the law 
of sin and death," to the " law of the Spirit of 
life in Christ Jesus." 

Of Good Works. 

The apostolic admonition is, " Be careful to 
maintain good works, for they are good and profit- 
able unto men." Of such importance are they 
considered, that no small portion of the Scriptures 
is taken up in elucidating their nature, inculcating 
their necessity, and enjoining their practice, and 
in this order we shall treat the subject. 

The nature of good works.. The word good, 
the qualifying term, determines at once their nat- 
ure. But we must distinguish between the gen- 
eral and latitudinous sense in which the term is 
used, and the religious sense according to the 
Scriptures. 

We shall consider good works in the latter sense. 
As good fruit cannot be produced by a bad tree, 
so good works, in the religious sense, cannot pro- 
ceed from a depraved nature, unsanctified by di- 
vine grace. A heart renewed and purified by the 
Holy Spirit is the fountain whence proceed works 
truly good; and faith, working by love, is the 
prompting, or instrumental agent. Faith and love 
dwell together in the divinely renewed heart; 



268 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

imparts to faith its moral force, or " virtue ;" it is 
the mainspring of its activities. Without love, 
faith is powerless — "dead." In proof of this, 
Paul says, "Circumcision availeth not any thing, 
nor uncircumcision ; but faith which worketh by 
love." As a feeble illustration, take the sires of 
the American Revolution ; they ardently loved the 
principles of civil and religious liberty, and their 
faith in the practicability of their attainment 
being stimulated by this love of liberty, not only 
sustained them through the mighty struggle, but 
finally crowned their efforts with complete success. 
Another, and perhaps a stronger, illustration may 
be found in young Jacob who, deeply in love with 
the beauteous Rachel, served her father fourteen 
years in the belief that he would at last take to 
his bosom the object of his heart's delight. Surely 
his faith was vitalized by the inspiration of love. 
Thus we see faith working by love on a stage far 
below that of religion. 

Good works, in the religious sense, derive their 
quality from a regenerated, good heart, and are 
brought forth upon the religious stage by faith 
working with the life and power imparted to it by 
supreme love to God and man. As the master- 
wheel under the motive-power sets in motion the 
whole machinery, so love moves faith in prompt- 
ing the Christian to perform all the duties, and to 
endure all the toils and sufferings of the Christian 



man's new state of trial. 269 

life. Through faith "the great cloud of witnesses," 
spoken of by Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews, 
wrought all the wonders enumerated in the pre- 
ceding chapter ; and this is the faith which has 
nerved the souls and inspired the tongues of thou- 
sands with songs of joy and praise at the gate of 
death. 

From the view we have taken of the subject, 
it appears that good works, in the religious sense, 
are the fruits of faith working by love. Uncon- 
verted men may do many things which are hu- 
manly good — good in the popular acceptation of 
the term. They may perform all the duties of 
civil and social life ; they may feed the hungry 
and clothe the naked, and even go so far as to 
give all their " goods to feed the poor," and yet, 
being destitute of true divine charity "out of a 
pure heart," their works are not to be reckoned 
good in the religious sense. Thus it appears that 
acts good in the eyes of the world, and indeed are so 
humanly speaking, and so far as they subserve the 
interests of human society, and they deserve and 
generally receive the commendation and applause 
of men ; but they cannot be so considered by him 
who judges intrinsically both the fruit and the 
tree. Hence, the denunciations of Christ against 
the self-righteous Pharisees who, however punc- 
tilious in observing the outward rites of religion, 
were pronounced by him as but " whited sepul- 



270 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

chers " and "ravening wolves." Their self-right- 
eous conceits led them into a most fatal error; 
for, relying upon their own works as their pass- 
port to heaven, they rejected the Messiah, and so 
lost all that was worth saving. 

The giving of a cup of cold water to a disciple 
of Christ "in the name of a disciple" is a good 
work. To feed Christ, give him drink, clothe him, 
and when sick or in prison to visit him in the per- 
sons of his afflicted and suffering disciples, are 
good works. All such acts are prompted by faith 
working by love in the heart of the actor. The 
secret springs of actions are scrutinized by the 
all-seeing eye of God. No counterfeit can be 
passed off upon him as genuine coin. How many, 
standing on trial in the great day of final settle- 
ment, will hear the soul-stirring words, "Inas- 
much as ye did not these things to my disciples, 
ye did them not unto me " — " Depart, I know you 
not," the revelations of that day alone can tell. 
Works good, merely in the eyes of men, may 
spring from sinister or mercenary motives. It is 
a good thing to pray; God has commanded it. 
The Pharisee prayed, but his prayer was not a 
good one, because his motive was to be heard of 
men. This vitiated and spoiled the act. It is a 
good work to give alms with a right spirit — to 
give of our substance to the cause of Christ; but 
doing so to the sound of the " trumpet " robs the 



man's new state of trial. 271 

act of its moral purity. These and all other such 
like so-called good works may pass for good in the 
eyes of men, but not in the eyes of God. In like 
manner and spirit may be performed all the out- 
ward duties of religion for the purpose of deceiv- 
ing men, or to fabricate a garment of righteous- 
ness of our own. Nothing of this will be regarded 
as truly good by Him who judges the hearts and 
tries the ways of the children of men. 

Good works, then, in the religious sense, must 
proceed from faith working by love in a heart 
purified by divine grace. This is the germinal 
storehouse of evangelical obedience; and faith, 
stimulated and made potent by love, brings forth 
this obedience and exemplifies it in all the varied 
acts of the Christian life. This truly gives the 
cup of water to Christ's thirsty disciple; visits 
the fatherless and widows in their afflictions, and 
visits with tears of sympathy, and heart and hand 
full of kindness to Christ, sick and in prison in 
the persons of his beloved disciples. Nor is this 
hand partial in its Godlike distributions. The 
only question is, Is he a disciple of Christ, and 
thirsty? Yes. In that name, then, the cup is 
freely given. Is he sick ? whether rich or poor, I 
will go and see him. Is he cast into prison ? I 
will visit him, minister to his wants, and speak 
words of comfort. To what shall we liken such 
works ? Like pure pearls ? like apples of gold in 



272 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

pictures of silver ? Rather like diamonds of the 
purest water, which shine in this dark world with 
their own inborn luster. In this way treasures 
imperishable are laid up in heaven. When the 
trial of works by fire shall come, these " works 
and labors of love" will stand the test. The 
wood, hay, and stubble shall be burnt, but good 
works, in the religious sense, are full fire-proof — 
imperishable. 

Good works are indispensable, first, to Chris- 
tian character and influence, as "the salt of the 
earth," " the light of the world ;" and that others 
seeing these good works may also glorify God. 
Secondly, as collateral evidence that we are truly 
converted and saved by grace. " If ye love me, 
ye will keep my commandments." 

Good works rewardable. This is quite evident 
from the sacred writings. Our Saviour says, 
"And whosoever shall give to one of these little 
ones a cup of cold water in the name of a disci- 
ple, verily he shall not lose his reward." Again, 
informing his followers of the ignominy and re- 
proach which should be cast upon them, he tells 
them to "rejoice, and leap for joy, for great is 
your reward in heaven." These and numerous 
other texts show conclusively that a rich reward 
awaits the faithful servants of God. 

The reward of the righteous is set forth under 
a variety of figurative representations ; sometimes 



man's new state of trial. 273 

as an imperishable inheritance, an incorruptible 
treasure, a crown of unfading glory. Sometimes, 
again, of exaltation and honor, as to sit with 
Christ on his throne of power and glory, to rule 
and reign with him in his kingdom. 

But Christians are not to maintain good works, 
nor do they, with an eye single to their reward ; 
yet, like Moses, they may have " respect to the 
recompense," as no inconsiderable stimulus to 
their labors of love; but they should ever be 
mindful that " after they have done all, they are 
unprofitable servants," and if rewarded, it will be 
" of grace and not of debt." 

Final Victory of all True Christians. 

The doctrine indicated in the above heading is 
full of comfort to the hearts of all God's dear 
children. Whether upon the part of some this 
doctrine is adopted as a part of their religious 
creed or not, yet when they are blessed with an 
unclouded sky, and repose full confidence in the 
divine promises, they are made to rejoice with joy 
unspeakable. Several objections urged against 
this doctrine demand a brief notice. 

It is alleged that this tenet involves the im- 
possibility of final apostasy, and this impossibil- 
ity destroys the Christian's moral freedom ; not 
so, neither in this world nor in the world to come. 

If the impossibility of losing heaven after it has 
12* 



274 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

been gained does not destroy moral freedom, so 
neither does it destroy it in this world in the chil- 
dren of God upon the supposition of their infalli- 
ble perseverance to the end. We grant there 
would be great weight in the objection; perhaps it 
would be unanswerable upon a certain hypothesis, 
that is, if the sinner should be converted without 
his own hearty concurrence, or the exercise of his 
free, uncoerced choice; then and in that case his 
moral freedom would be ignored and trampled 
down ; or, as is held and taught by some, under 
the notion of " effectual calling" which involves 
the idea that regeneration precedes faith, and that 
faith is a consequence of regeneration. Hence, as 
the heart of the unrenewed is carnal, and is en- 
mity to God, it follows as a sequence that the sin- 
ner, without faith, is, by an arbitrary act of God, 
regenerated without his consent, and by conse- 
quence against it. Now, if this be true, the 
moral freedom of the renewed sinner was not re- 
spected ; indeed, it is overridden, and we would 
be compelled to admit the force of the objection. 
A man converted and taken to heaven without 
the exercise of his own free choice, would be no 
free agent ; nothing is plainer. But what is the 
fact ? Does Deity so deal with rational men in 
regard either to their eternal happiness or misery? 
The Bible, reason, and the nature and fitness of 
things teach the contrary. 



man's new state of trial. 275 

God has endowed man with high rational power, 
and moral freedom is its grand correlative. In ref- 
erence to personal salvation the command is, " Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ," and " Thou shalt 
be saved " is the promise. The simple heart-act 
of believing is undoubtedly the sinner's i the abil- 
ity to perform that act is of God ; and this is what 
constitutes him a free agent. Here we institute 
an inquiry : Does the believing heart, in the ex- 
ercise of moral freedom, choose Christ and salva- 
tion in him merely for the present, or for any lim- 
ited time, or does he choose without limitation ? 
If only for the present, or for some definite period, 
then, to confirm him in a state of grace, rendering 
it impossible for him ever to be lost, would be 
manifestly more than he chose, and this would be 
an infringement upon his moral freedom. Or, if 
in believing on Jesus Christ he freely takes him 
as his only Saviour for time and eternity, and his 
whole soul's intention and desire is to be saved 
forever, then not to confirm him and make heaven 
sure to him would be less than he chose. No 
man ever embraced religion under the above limi- 
tation. There must be a final choice between sin 
and righteousness, life and death, heaven and hell. 
In the act of believing (we say act for want of a 
better term) there must be, and there is, a defini- 
tive choice by which Christ is received as the only 
Saviour from sin and eternal perdition. He is re- 



276 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

ceived by the sinner as such a Saviour for time 
and eternity ; and not to confirm to him what he 
thus voluntarily chooses, would fall short of what 
he most ardently desires, and the very thing he 
is seeking. And will not infinite love respond to 
this final free choice by confirming to him in cov- 
enant the object of his choice and of his whole 
heart's desire? Yea, verily; "he that believeth 
on the Son hath everlasting life." 

In this momentous concern the choice of the 
sinner and the will of God mutually agree. The 
sinner chooses life everlasting; God wills he shall 
have it. The sinner's choice was final, and em- 
braced unlimited duration ; so Deity infallibly se- 
cures to him what he chose without in the least 
disturbing his moral freedom. In this way the 
believers infallible certainty of endless life and 
his moral freedom are harmonized, both in this 
world and the world to come. We think the ob- 
jection is now fairly obviated. It is farther ob- 
jected that the doctrine of the certain salvation 
of Christians affords them license to sin. One 
might suppose that such an objector knew of no 
difference between the saint and the sinner — be- 
tween the regenerate and the unregenerate. Make 
heaven sure to an unrenewed sinner; he might, 
indeed, take license unbounded to indulge to the 
utmost extent his devilish passions. He would 
have nothing to fear, and it would be to him as 



man's new state of trial. 277 

though the last sparks of the fires of hell were 
extinguished. No other law to govern him but 
his depraved, lustful appetites, and no other in- 
centive to action but their unlimited gratification, 
he would certainly, if made sure that after death 
ha would be eternally happy, take unbounded 
license. But not so with the Christian ; " he is a 
new creature." God has not only cast out the 
devil, but has put his own Spirit in. He is not 
now under the law of his carnal nature, but is 
governed by the law of love — love for God and the 
souls of men. The man who says and feels as he 
says that, if he believed the doctrine of final per- 
severance, he would give a loose rein to his fleshly 
appetites and passions, and live in their coveted 
enjoyment, gives unmistakable evidence that he 
is a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God, 
and is a total stranger to the new birth. 

This objection is surely founded in an entire 
misconception of the nature of true religion, and 
we deem it unnecessary to say more upon the 
subject. A few arguments now in support of this 
doctrine. 

It is generally conceded that there was a cove- 
nant between Deity and our first progenitor. This, 
by some, is styled the Adamic covenant ; by oth- 
ers, the covenant of works. The latter designa- 
tion is expressive of its nature ; we, therefore, 
adopt it. It was conditioned upon perfect obedi- 



278 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

ence upon the part of Adam, which, when ren- 
dered, he was entitled to the stipulated blessing, 
which was life — life everlasting. Upon pain of 
death he was forbidden to eat of the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil. He was destined to 
undergo a severe trial ; an evil spirit was already 
present who, with all his Satanic wiles and malice, 
was bent, upon the first favorable opportunity, to 
contravene the design of God — to pervert and de- 
stroy the work of his hand. This he largely ac- 
complished in the catastrophe of the fall. But 
had man withstood the tempter and come off vic- 
torious — had he, instead of yielding, made a full, 
free, definitive choice of eternal allegiance to God, 
the blessing stipulated in the covenant, which was 
life eternal, would have been secured to him. 
Then would have closed his probationary or trial 
state, and he would have entered into a state of 
confirmation in holiness and happiness. This con- 
firmed estate, as elsewhere remarked, was sym- 
bolized by " the tree of life." 

Now, since man is fallen, and can neither atone 
for his sin, nor obtain life by any work which he 
can perform, Jesus Christ, the second Adam, who 
is the way, the truth, and the life, has made atone- 
ment and offered life to his fallen creature — not 
upon condition of works, but of faith. " He that 
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." 

Now, as Christ the second Adam withstood the 






- 

man's new state op trial. 279 

tempter and won the victory in the wilderness, in 
the garden, and on the cross, he has appointed us 
— all mankind — not to wrath, but that we may- 
obtain salvation through him. The object con- 
templated in the covenant of works was precisely 
the same with that of the covenant of grace — life 
— eternal life. The former conditioned upon 
works, because man had then an upright nature 
and could work ; the latter conditioned upon faith, 
because man has lost his moral uprightness, and 
therefore he cannot now work, but can, with the 
help of God, believe. 

Now, as life everlasting would have been se- 
cured to man upon his compliance with the condi- 
tion of the former, so the same life eternal is se- 
cured to those who fulfill the condition of the 
latter. This adequately interprets a large num- 
ber of Scripture texts, for instance, that " he that 
believeth on the Son should not perish, but have 
everlasting life ;" " I give unto them eternal life;" 
and, " He that believeth on the Son hath everlast- 
ing life." This life, lost in the first Adam, is 
found in the second; but it is secured, "not to 
him that worketh, but to him that worketh not, 
but believeth." 

Probation and confirmation are correlative terms. 
The one implies the other. Without there was 
such a state as confirmation,, probation or trial 
would be unmeaning ; and vice versa, A morally 



280 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

free being must of necessity choose and determine 
his own destiny. This was done by man by a sin- 
gle volition — a wrong choice, by which he severed 
the bond between him and his Creator, and be- 
came the servant of sin and of the tempter. He 
did not, however, fix his destiny for eternity. He 
was in the infancy of manhood — ignorant, as yet, 
of evil — was "deceived" and perhaps his wrong 
choice fell somewhat short of that definitiveness 
and finality necessary at once to settle his eternal 
destiny. Be this as it may, he was in imminent 
danger of rendering his case irremedial. Hence, 
the flaming sword of God flashing in his face the 
threat of eternal death, lest he should reach forth 
his hand and consummate definitively his rebellion 
against God. He was fallen, but not like the 
devil and his angels, incapable of salvation. And 
the divine compassion " hastened to pour the heal- 
ing balm into the fresh and bleeding wound." The 
" seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the 
serpent." 

But in this second probation the case is differ- 
ent. Men know evil now as well as good. Evil, 
with its consequences, is continually before them. 
The choice they now make will be decisive ; it will 
fix their destiny forever. If they choose life eternal 
in Christ, they shall live ; but if they choose rebel- 
lion against God, and reject Christ, they shall die; 
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. 



man's new state op trial. 281 

In the second probation the turning point is not 
works, but faith. If in faith eternal life in Christ 
is chosen, the destiny of a morally free being is 
determined, and the probationary state closes, and 
he enters upon a confirmed one. The choice he 
makes embraces in it the certainty of happiness 
in never-ending perpetuity; and this is pledged 
upon the part of God in Christ : " I give unto 
them eternal life, and they shall never perish." 
In securing to the believer this transcendent boon, 
God but responds to the free choice he made in 
the hour of his conversion. In this free choice 
his moral freedom is established both for time and 
eternity, and thenceforward he walks by faith, 
through which he is " kept by the power of God 
unto salvation," which will never end. 

We offer the following additional remarks : 
"With blasting effects the defeat of the first Adam 
fell upon his children. This was in accordance 
with the law, founded in the relation of cause and 
effect. It could not have been otherwise, without 
subverting the order of the universe. Hence, 
when he fell, his children all fell in him. As this 
is true, the converse of it is also true. Had he 
stood, his children would have stood in him. Had 
he achieved the victory over the tempter, and been 
confirmed in holiness and happiness, his victory 
and confirmation would have been the victory and 
confirmation of his children in the same state. 



282 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Jesus Christ, the second Adam, vanquished the 
tempter. The wilderness, the garden, and the 
cross proclaim his victory. He also conquered 
when he took again his life in the grave, and he 
subdued the grave when he burst its barriers and 
came forth a risen Saviour. Single-handed he met 
the tempter, met sin, met death, met the grave. 
He vanquished all. 

Now, let it be inquired, For whom were these 
battles fought and this victory won? for himself? 
Not so ; he was the self-happy, self-glorious, and 
independent God. For a right solution of this 
question we must find a relation existing between 
God and some of the fallen race answering to the 
relation subsisting between our first progenitor and 
his children ; and as we find in the world the chil- 
dren of Adam, so also we find in the world the 
children of God. Those are the children of Adam 
by ordinary generation, these the children of God 
by extraordinary regeneration. But how are men 
brought into this relation to God ? By faith in 
Christ : " For ye are all the children of God by 
faith in Christ Jesus." These children are regen- 
erated — " born again," " born of the Spirit," " born 
of God " — and as they bore the image of the 
earthy, they now bear the image of the heavenly. 
Jesus Christ is to all his children the second Adam 
in the fullest sense of the term. They are in 
union with him — have unity of life in him; his 



man's new state op trial. 283 

life is their life, his victory over Satan, sin, death, 
and the grave their victory over all these formida- 
ble powers. What does he say to his children ? 
" My grace is sufficient for thee ; " "I will never 
leave thee;" "I give unto them eternal life;" 
" Because I live, ye shall live also." Your life is 
hid with Christ in God : "When Christ, who is our 
life, shall appear, then shall ye also appeaf with 
him in glory." These he sent forth as sheep 
among wolves. He prayed not that they should 
be taken out of the world, but kept from the evil. 
They were not to go off into deserts and live her- 
mits, nor shut themselves up in cells and cloisters, 
but to go about among men doing good, letting 
their light shine, and teaching them to observe all 
things which their Divine Master had commanded. 
He was not afraid for them to eat with publicans 
and sinners, or to -dine with Pharisees ; he did not 
tell them that they should not frequent theaters, 
ball-rooms, and gambling and drinking saloons ; he 
put his Spirit in them and left that to teach them 
that such places "lean to the side of the devil." 
He was not afraid they would be corrupted when 
he was not personally present with them, and went 
away from them shortly after he had finished the 
work of atonement ; he had given them life, and 
the words of his Father, and the Holy Spirit for 
a comforter and revelator, and this was enough ; 
and none of them were lost but the son of perdition. 



284 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

We have endeavored to show that a state of 
confirmation may perfectly consist with moral free- 
dom; that the believer in Jesus Christ is infallibly 
certain of eternal life, and yet he is a free agent. 
We have also shown that the reason of this cer- 
tainty lies in facts — first, that the believer has ful- 
filled the condition upon which eternal life is prom- 
ised ; secondly, by faith he is brought into union 
with Christ, and possesses unity of life in him. 
We have farther seen that the final victory won 
by Christ, the second Adam, is necessarily shared 
by all who are in union with him ; that his life is 
their life, and the conquest that he achieved, as 
the Head, is the conquest of his members. Hence, 
he says to believers, "Be not afraid ; I have over- 
come the world " — as much as to say, The strength 
by which I have overcome is your strength, and 
by it you shall overcome. " For more and might- 
ier is he that is in you than he that is in the 
world." We have said, too, that faith in Christ 
conducts the subject from his probationary, or 
trial, state into a confirmed one, and places him 
beyond the danger of final perdition. And here 
we suggest that the afflictions, persecutions, and 
temptations incident to the Christian life, called 
trials, must not be confounded with the probation- 
ary, or trial, state of all men. In this state un- 
believers are called upon to choose between life 
and death. The believer has already chosen life, 



man's new state op trial. 285 

and his afflictions are for the trial of his faith, 
which, "more precious than of gold that perisheth, 
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto 
praise and honor and glory." 

We now present a few texts of the divine record 
which prove beyond a reasonable doubt the doc- 
trine under discussion; and the passage last al- 
luded to is in point. Peter declares (1 Ep. i. 7) : 
"That the trial of your faith, being much more 
precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be 
tried with fire, might be found unto praise and 
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." 
Here the trial of the Christian's faith is compared 
to the trial of gold which perishes. In this text 
two things are put in contrast: the preciousness 
of faith and the preciousness of gold — perishable 
gold and imperishable faith. The interpretation 
is this: Gold, the most precious of metals, may 
perish, or be dissipated, under trial by fire, if heat 
of possible intensity is made to attack it; but 
faith, which is " much more precious" under a fig- 
uratively similar fiery test, is imperishable. "And 
this is the victory, even our faith" Without far- 
ther comment, we submit the passage and the ar- 
gument based upon it to the enlightened judgment 
of the unbiased reader. 

Consider, next, the declaration of Christ, "My 
sheep hear my voice ; they follow me ; I give unto 
them eternal life, and they shall never perish." 



286 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

In this text there are four distinct, unqualified 
announcements: 1. The flock of Christ hear his 
voice; in contrast to this, he says, "They hear 
not (or hearken to) the voice of strangers." 2. 
" They follow me " — " a stranger will they not 
follow." 3. "I give unto them eternal life." 4. 
"And they shall never perish." Comment upon 
this passage would be worse than useless; in- 
spection, with candor, is all that is necessary to 
an acknowledgment of its great weight of evi- 
dence. 

Again, in speaking of the water of life, he de- 
clares, " But whoso drinketh of the water that I 
shall give him shall never thirst ; but the water 
that I shall give him shall be in him, a well of 
water springing up into everlasting life." But if 
some may drink of this water, and have it a well 
springing up into life only for a short season, would 
not this falsify Christ's declaration, since the lost 
apostate could say (and truly), Though I drank 
of the water, I did thirst again, and its springing 
up in my soul was only temporary, not everlast- 
ing ? The controversy, then, on this question lies 
between the doctrine of apostasy and the unquali- 
fied declaration of Christ. The Apostle Paul puts 
the case in this wise : " If, when we were enemies, 
we were reconciled to God by the death of his 
Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved 
by his life." The conclusion deduced from the 



man's new state op trial. 287 

premise laid down in this text is irresistible. The 
position taken by the apostle, that God gave his 
Son to die for his enemies, is no postulate ; it is 
supported by the Scriptures with plenary evidence, 
and is admitted by all. The conclusion, then, is that 
if God has sacrificed so much to reconcile and save 
his enemies, he will, certainly, save his friends, 
when he can do so without any farther sacrifice 
whatever. But we fear that even this little com- 
ment may weaken, in the mind of the reader, the 
force of the conclusion. It is absolutely a tower 
of strength ; no art can improve it — singly and 
alone it stands upon its own broad, everlasting 
pedestal, and cannot be shaken. 

Again, Christ says, " Upon this rock I will build 
my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it." What is true in regard to the infalli- 
ble security of the Church, the entire body of 
Christ, is true also as to each particular member. 
It therefore follows that if the Church, the whole 
body, cannot be destroyed, neither can its particular 
members of whom it is composed. "But God coni- 
mendeth his love toward us in that while we were 
yet sinners Christ died for us ; much more, then, 
being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved 
from wrath through him." Here comment is un- 
necessary. 

A few other passages in proof of the doctrine. 
One is found in Rom. viii. 38, 39 : "For I am per- 



288 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

suaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor 
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love 
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The 
powers specified in this text certainly cover the 
whole range and every species of power in the 
universe short of Omnipotence. These powers, 
separately or combined, shall never be able to sever 
the strong cord of the believer's love of God in 
Christ, and the love of God in Christ of the be- 
liever, as it is written, " I have loved thee with an 
'everlasting love." Dr. A. Clarke, in his comment- 
ary upon this chapter, when he comes to the ques- 
tion, "Who shall separate us from the love of 
God?" candidly acknowledges that "while it (and 
its connection) affords a strong presumption of 
their perseverance, furnishes a most powerful argu- 
ment against apostasy." Indeed, Rom. viii. une- 
quivocally sustains one of two propositions — either 
the final perseverance of all who love God in Christ, 
in connection with their eternal election and pre- 
destination, or their perseverance in connection 
with their election upon their believing on Jesus 
Christ. One of these propositions is obliged to 
be true ; and the possibility of even a plausible 
evasion is absolutely excluded. Which of these 
propositions shall we choose as being sustained ? 
In this election there is free suffrage. With the 



man's new state oe trial. 289 

lights before us we unhesitatingly accept the latter 
proposition as being sustained. 

It is also declared, "As many as were ordained 
to eternal life believed." This text likewise proves 
the eternal foreordination of believers to eternal 
life, or it proves their ordination to that life at 
some point in time ; and, in either case, the doc- 
trine of perseverance is proven. We discard the 
former with reference to personal salvation, and 
joyfully accept the latter, as we are fully -per- 
suaded that the ordination takes place at the mo- 
ment that faith lays hold upon Christ, especially 
since the ordaining and believing are represented 
by verbs indicating the same point of time ; but 
if true believers may fall away and be lost, then 
their ordination to eternal life amounts to nothing. 
Which horn of this dilemma will be chosen ? The 
same ordination is spoken of by Peter, who says 
that the saints are elect, according to the foreknowl- 
edge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit 
and belief of the truth. And if they are elected, 
what are they elected to but to eternal life ? These 
passages afford concurrent testimony in support of 
the doctrine of the final victory of all God's chil- 
dren. The fear of falling from a gracious state, 
and of being finally lost, is, certainly, the " fear 
which hath torment." " Perfect love casteth out 
fear." But we are persuaded, though we thus 

speak, that many devoted Christians who shine as 
13 



290 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

lights in the world, while they adopt this tenet as 
wwthy of a place in their religious creed, are, at 
the same time, actuated in their high calling by 
love to God, to his cause and kingdom ; and that 
the dread of falling and of final perdition exerts 
but little, if any, practical influence upon them. 
And while we are fully persuaded that the believer 
in Jesus Christ will be enabled, by Divine grace, 
to persevere to the end, we are free to admit that 
there are many passages of Scripture which seem 
to favor the doctrine of apostasy ; and with all 
due deference to the opinion of hundreds, perhaps 
thousands, of men of a high order of talent, of 
deep and ardent piety, who differ from us, we must 
say we are in unison with an equal array of talent 
and piety on the other side of the question. 
Hence, we may set talent against talent, name 
against name, and set them all aside as proving 
nothing. 

If the doctrine which we have advocated is true, 
we must give some other interpretation of the pas- 
sages supposed to favor that of apostasy. Such 
texts, for instance, as those which speak of Chris- 
tians falling we must understand to mean their 
falling from the ardor of their first love, from their 
steadfastness, into a state of spiritual weakness 
and doubting ; or of falling into temptation, or too 
much into the spirit of the world, or into erroneous 
heretical doctrines, such as would vitiate the 



man's new state of trial. 291 

scheme of redemption, and so making shipwreck 
of the faith ; or falling into a state of apathy and 
lukewarmness. For all these things the Divine 
Father lays upon his children the rod of correction. 

Again, many passages are applied to persons 
supposed to have been converted, who, in reality, 
had never attained to salvation — such as Judas, 
Simon Magus, the foolish virgins, many of the 
Jews who believed Christ (not savingly), but for 
fear of persecution they would not confess him ; 
also, those who commit the unpardonable sin — 
trampling underfoot the Son of God, doing despite 
to the Spirit of grace, crucifying the Son of God 
afresh, and sinning unto death. All such must be 
classed with those who have fallen short of saving 
grace. 

And lastly, some confessedly good men, who 
fell, in the hour of temptation, into great sin — 
such as David, Solomon, and Peter, as recorded in 
the Scriptures. Two of these, David and Peter, 
sorely repented and were restored ; and from the 
closing words of Solomon would it be too great a 
stretch of charity, "which hopeth all things," to 
hope that he, too, was restored to the Divine favor? 
There have been, and are now, many who have 
made a profession of faith in Christ, have won our 
confidence, and appeared to run well for a season, 
but have, like the swine that was wa,shed, turned 
to their wallowing in the mire. All such, dying 



292 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

unreclaimed, we must class with Judas, Simon the 
sorcerer, the foolish virgins, and stony -ground 
hearers. 

We have scriptural testimony to the fact that 
some of the righteous are in heaven, and some of 
the wicked are in hell; but no man, upon Bible 
authority, can say that an unconverted soul ever 
went to heaven, or that a converted soul ever went 
to perdition ; and the notion that many who have 
professed faith in Christ, and were truly converted, 
have fallen away, and are finally lost, is mere con- 
jecture, founded in outward appearance and not 
in fact, since no man can assert that such final 
apostates were born of God — indeed, we have evi- 
dence to conclude that they were not, for St. Paul 
declares, " They went out from us that it might be 
made manifest that they were not of us ; for if 
they had been of us, they would no doubt have 
continued with us." 

Is it thought by any that the fear of apostasy 
and of being finally lost may induce Christians to 
be more watchful and diligent in the discharge of 
religious duties ? This would imply deficiency of 
power in the true motive which prompts to all 
evangelical obedience, which motive is love ; and 
in this regard it sets back the Christian upon the 
ground he occupied before his conversion. While 
a sinner, even when an anxious seeker of salva- 
tion, in all the duties he essayed to perform he 



man's new state of trial. 293 

was prompted by a slavish fear of future punish- 
ment. Such obedience springs not from the foun- 
tain whence flows evangelical service; this fountain 
is love. The unrenewed are slaves to sin, the re- 
newed are free — made free by the Son; the obe- 
dience of the one is constrained, that of the other 
is of free good-will. The slave serves from fear 
of punishment, the son because he loves his father, 
regrets to offend him, and delights to do his bid- 
ding. Hence, the obedience which springs from 
the fear of apostasy and of final punishment can- 
not be viewed in the light of good works, nor can 
such receive the reward graciously promised. We 
may, therefore, very reasonably conclude that this 
fear of falling away and of being finally lost is 
productive of little benefit to the truly converted, 
if it does not, where it is seriously indulged, trench 
upon the fruits of faith stimulated by love, by 
which faith is said to work. Such slavish fear 
must also be no inconsiderable drawback upon the 
good man's trust in the Divine promises, and the 
peace and joy of soul which is the privilege of all 
the truly-born-of-God to enjoy. 

The texts adduced by the advocates of the doc- 
trine of apostasy in its support cannot be consid- 
ered within the limits prescribed to this work; 
neither can but a very few out of the great num- 
ber of those in proof of the doctrine of final per- 
severance. 



294 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

We have before said that had the first Adam 
maintained his original standing, and consequent 
power and authority with which he was divinely 
invested, he would have reigned as king over the 
earth — his sons, princes, and daughters, princesses, 
would have reigned with him. This prerogative 
of authority and power would have passed over 
to them by heirship, he being the root, they the 
branches — he the head, they the members. Re- 
sponsive to this are the declarations of not only 
the New, but also of the Old, Testament in refer- 
ence to the princely power and authority of Christ, 
the second Adam. The time came "when the 
kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom was 
given to the people of the saints;" they reign as 
kings and priests. "As he has overcome and is 
set down upon his Father's throne, so they shall 
overcome and sit with him on his throne." This 
power and dominion they derive from Christ, the 
second Adam, who fully vindicated and maintained 
this right of dominion in the day of his trial. 
True, they are in a state of warfare, but their vic- 
torious Head insures to them the final conquest. 

Thus much with regard to the confirmed estate 
and of the final victory of all who become the 
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 

Is it still objected that such confirmation, in- 
volving the impossibility of falling, is destructive 
of moral freedom? Far from it; otherwise, there 



man's new state of trial. 295 

is either no moral freedom in heaven or, then, the 
saints in glory are not confirmed in a state of 
blessedness. If we say they are infallibly secure 
from all danger, and that such infallible security 
destroys moral freedom, we make them lower in 
the scale of being in heaven than they were on 
earth. This position is at once rejected. Now, 
try the other side. If they are free agents, and 
are therefore not infallibly secure, but may fall 
from heaven, this would place all the redeemed 
and glorified in a state of eternal uncertainty, 
which is repugnant to the teachings of the Bible, 
as well as to all the hallowed instincts of the 
Christian nature. Neither of these propositions 
is true. We hold that the saints in glory are en- 
tirely beyond the possibility of falling, and }^et 
they are morally free in the fullest and clearest 
sense of the term. Their moral freedom was es- 
tablished forever in their own voluntary choice of 
Christ and heaven, in the exercise of faith in him 
in the hour of their conversion, Avhen God, upon 
his part ratifying this free voluntary choice, se- 
cured to them, in perpetual covenant, what they 
freely chose. Here, then, is a state of absolute 
security consisting with perfect moral freedom. 

The conversion of souls is a matter of transcend- 
ent importance. For this the Son of God put off 
his robes of glory, came to earth, took the form 
of a servant, having not where to rest his head ; 



296 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

for this he sweat blood in the garden, became the 
victim-man of Calvary, died on the cross, rose, 
ascended, and intercedes for sinners. For the 
conversion of souls the Holy Spirit is sent to con- 
vince of sin, the gospel is preached, the Church 
prays both day and night, and when a sinner is 
converted the Church on earth and angels in heaven 
unite in songs of joy, for there is "joy in heaven 
over one sinner that repenteth." Would all this 
be done "for a trifle?" From this point of view 
we may not wonder that when a soul is trans- 
formed — rises from death into life, passes through 
the narrow gate, enters into unity of life with 
Christ, and by experience interprets the mystery 
of the new birth — we say we need not wonder, 
when all this takes place in perfect harmony with 
his own free will, if something of preeminent im- 
portance is transacted upon the part of God with 
regard to the future security and eternal happiness 
of such converted soul. That something is con- 
firmation in a state of grace. 

The doctrine of the believer's final victory holds 
out to sinners the greatest inducement to forsake all 
and follow Christ. It also robs them of the excuse, 
which is often made, that if they were to let go 
the world and sin and embrace religion they fear 
they could not keep it, and say they, "Better not 
profess it than to disgrace it, and myself, too, by 
throwing it away." But the doctrine of certain 



man's new state of trial. 297 

and eternal happiness presents the inspired war- 
rant, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved," while that of apostasy informs 
them that after years of toil, self-denial, and hard- 
fought battles, they are liable to be overcome and 
miss heaven, and that they are never out of danger 
until death closes the scene. This tenet, then, 
offers no encouragement to the unregenerate to 
turn from their evil ways, nor can it find a place 
in Christian motive, prompting to good works, 
which are the fruits of faith working by love; 
whereas, the doctrine which promises, upon com- 
pliance with the gospel condition — that is, faith in 
Jesus Christ — certain and eternal happiness, af- 
fords the sinner a strong inducement to flee to 
Christ as a sure and safe refuge ; and it must in- 
spire the hearts of all who embrace it, who have 
"fled for refuge and have laid hold on the hope 
set before them," with strong consolation, "which 
hope they have as anchor of the soul both sure 
and steadfast." And from the great weight of 
Bible testimony, from the nature of causes and 
their effects, from the encouragement it affords the 
Christian, and the influence it is calculated to ex- 
ert upon the minds of wicked men, in persuading 
them to be religious, we are compelled to entertain 
the doctrine of the final victory of all who are 
brought into union with Jesus Christ by faith, as 
a gospel doctrine. 
13* 



298 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Medium Ground. 
It has been asserted, with much apparent con- 
fidence, that there is no middle ground between 
Calvinism and Arminianism. For centuries past 
men of deep thought and serious reflection have 
objected to some of the features of both these 
systems. Arminianism upon the one hand seemed 
to give man, in his fallen state, too much of self- 
ability in choosing to improve the grace afforded 
him so as to " render it effectual to salvation at 
pleasure." This appeared not well to accord with 
the Scripture representations of man in his fallen 
condition, wherein he is said to be in darkness, 
blindness, and death. It also appeared to lay too 
much stress upon man's own works as well after 
as before conversion, and in this way to diminish 
the ground of giving to God, to whom alone is 
due, all the glory of our salvation. The possi- 
bility and great danger of apostasy after conver- 
sion appeared to represent the state of the regen- 
erated and born of God quite uncertain, and the 
hope of final happiness to depend not altogether 
upon the grace given through Jesus Christ, but 
partly upon their own faithfulness. And while it 
teaches the doctrine of apostasy, it teaches also the 
doctrine of reconversion, and there being no limit 
fixed as to the number of times that such aposta- 
sies and reconversions may take place in the same 



man's new state of trial. 299 

persons, the apostasies and reconversions may be 
extended to hundreds, and even thousands, of 
times during the single lifetime of the same per- 
son. Again, Arminianism does not define the de- 
gree or turpitude of the sin to be committed by 
which will be forfeited by the Christian his spirit- 
ual life in Christ Jesus, and place him back upon 
the ground he occupied before his conversion ; and 
this may have been the reason why the Romish 
Church have classified sins into what they are 
pleased to call venial sins and mortal sins, which 
distinction is unknown to the Bible, and is only 
subservient to the convenience of the priesthood. 
And farther still, Arminianism does not harmon- 
ize the doctrine of man's moral freedom with the 
absolute certainty of the believer's future happi- 
ness. And if Arminianism cannot do this, one 
of the two doctrines must be abandoned, and ac- 
cordingly the latter has been abandoned, and the 
former retained,. which, if extended to the saints 
in heaven, would make them all liable to aposta- 
tize and fall, and so it would place the glorified 
saints in a state of eternal insecurity and uncer- 
tainty. 

We propose to show, in several important points, 
the middle ground between Calvinism and Armin- 
ianism. First, upon the subject of God's fore- 
knowledge. Calvinism teaches that God's fore- 
knowledge is infinite, and is dependent upon his 



300 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

decrees — that all things that come to pass were 
foreknown to him because he "foreordained all 
whatsoever comes to pass;" and that his fore- 
knowledge is equivalent to his decrees so far as is 
concerned the infallible certainty of the coming to 
pass of the things foreknown. Arminianism, to 
evade this difficulty, denies God's foreknowledge 
of all things, alleging that he could have fore- 
known all things had he chosen to do so; but there 
are some things not foreknown to him because he 
did not choose to foreknow them. Medium — to 
deny God's infinite foreknowledge is to degrade 
his character. To hold that he foreordained all 
that come to pass, sin included, with all its untold 
miseries, equally degrades him. Both these posi- 
tions are extremes, and meet in the degradation of 
the divine character. 

The Medium system teaches that the Calvinistic 
dogma that God's foreknowledge depends upon his 
decrees is not true; alleging such an idea stultifies 
itself, since to say that Deity decreed, not knowing 
the thing or things he decreed until after the decree 
was passed, would be to say that he decreed in ig- 
norance, or at random. And farther, the Medium 
system maintains that knowledge, or foreknowledge, 
is abstract in its nature, and sustains not the rela- 
tion to the things foreknown that decrees sustain 
to the things decreed; for decrees, in their very na- 
ture and design, necessarily carry with them the idea 



man's new state of trial. 301 

of causality in bringing to pass the things decreed. 
Whereas, mere foreknowledge contains within itself 
no idea of causality at all. Hence, the Medium 
ground, contrary to Arminianism, accords to Deity 
his infinite foreknowledge, but denies the Calvin- 
istic doctrine that his foreknowledge is dependent 
upon his decrees. It also denies that God has de- 
creed all that he foreknew, and foreknowledge is 
not equivalent to decrees. Thus the Medium doctrine 
exalts and glorifies God as possessing infinite knowl- 
edge, or foreknowledge, and clears him of the odium 
of decreeing sin and all its unspeakable miseries. 

Secondly, Calvinism teaches in effect that man- 
kind were not, through the mediation of Christ, 
appointed to a new state of probation or trial, 
during which all may, in the exercise of their 
moral freedom, choose life and be saved, or reject 
it and be lost. 

Arminianism teaches a day of probation or trial, 
but extends that day till death, as well to the be- 
liever in Christ as to the unconverted. The Me- 
dium is, that all men have a day of probation; 
but with respect to the believer on Jesus Christ, 
that day closes, and he passes into a state of gra- 
cious confirmation upon his freely choosing eternal 
life in Christ Jesus. 

Thirdly, upon the subject of man's moral abil- 
ity. Calvinism teaches that man has no moral 
ability to turn from sin — embrace the overtures 



302 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

of mercy made in the gospel and be saved, until, 
by a sovereign act of God, his will is renewed in 
regeneration; and this is what is meant by "ef- 
fectual calling." 

Arminianism teaches that man, since the fall, 
possesses an inherent, self-determining will, or 
power, to good, and that his self freewill cooper- 
ates with the grace given him " so as to dispose 
and prepare him to obtain the grace of justifica- 
tion." (See "Decrees of Council of Trent," and 
"Paschal's Provincial Letters.") The Medium sys- 
tem teaches that man's ability to good, lost in the 
first Adam, is restored through the second; that 
in this respect, all the ability he has is of grace, 
and not of himself, but that it is restored to him 
previous to regeneration. 

Fourthly, in regard to the doctrine of election. 
Calvinism holds that some men were from eternity 
elected to everlasting life, and that their number 
is so definite and certain that it can be neither 
added to nor diminished. Arminianism does not 
teach any election at all in which is infallibly se- 
cured eternal life to all those who with the heart 
believe unto salvation. 

The Medium system discards the doctrine of 
the eternal personal election of any to life ever- 
lasting without condition, and holds to the election 
(in time) of all who believe in Jesus Christ to the 
saving of the soul, and that in this election is se- 



man's new state of trial. 



303 



cured to all such in Christ the certainty of eternal 
felicity. 

In order to a clear and distinct view of the 
Medium ground between Calvinism and Armin- 
ianism, we submit the following condensed state- 
ment. Read the first and third columns, and then 
the middle one. 



Calvinism 
Teaches, the doctrine 
of the eternal, uncon- 
ditional election of 
all those who are fi- 
nally saved. 



Calvinism teaches 
that God from eter- 
nity foreknew all 
things, and that his 
foreknowledge is de- 
pendent upon his de- 
crees, and having de- 
creed all things, he 
therefore foreknew 
all things. 

Calvinism does not 
admit the doctrine of 
a state of pronation 
or trial in which all 
m en are free to choose, 
through faith, life in 
Christ and he saved, 
or reject it and he 
lost, since it teaches 
that all the eternally 
elected will be cer- 
tainly saved, and no 
others. 



Medium 
Denies the doctrine of 
eternal, unconditional 
election to life ever- 
lasting, hut teaches 
the doctrine of the 
election of all true 
believers to life eter- 
nal, and that this elec- 
tion takes place in 
time, and is condi- 
tioned upon faith in 
Jesus Christ. 

Medium teaches 
that God's foreknowl- 
edge is infinite, and 
therefore he foreknew 
all things, but denies 
that his foreknowl- 
edge is dependent 
upon his decrees. 



Medium holds to a 
probationary or trial 
state of mankind, but 
in regard to the time, 
carries it no farther 
than the hour of his 
free acceptance of 
Christ through faith 
as his everlasting por- 
tion when his proba- 
tion closes, and he 
passes into a state of 
confirmation. 



Arminianism 
Teaches there is no 
election, neither from 
eternity nor in time, 
which infallibly se- 
cures to any life ever- 
lasting. 



Arminianism teach- 
es that God could 
have foreknown all 
things had he chosen 
to do so ; but this he 
did not choose, and 
the existence of sin 
is one thing he did 
not foreknow. 



Arminianism teach- 
es the doctrine of 
man's probationary 
or trial state, and ex- 
tends that state dur- 
ing life as well to the 
believer as the unbe- 
liever, which seems 
to give the believer 
but little more cer- 
tainty of future hap- 
piness than is accord- 
ed to the unbeliever. 



304 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Note. — The Medium ground between Calvinism and 
Arminianism was set forth by the writer nearly as above 
presented in 1853, in his book entitled, "A Keviewof L. A. 
Lowry's Letters f and so far as he is aware, it was the first 
attempt which was ever made to define that ground. 



PAET VII. — THE OFFICES OF THE 
HOLT SPIEIT. 



Their Connection with Human Redemption. 

WE think it highly probable that many of the 
present day, who profess to be teachers of 
the Christian faith, have not given sufficient promi- 
nence to the important offices sustained by the 
third person of the Holy Trinity, as they stand 
connected w r ith the great work of human redemp- 
tion. 

To be enabled to appreciate the dignity and 
glory of the Holy Spirit, we need only view him 
as one of the three in one of the personal God- 
head, the part he took at the creation, together 
with that taken by him in the revealed origin and 
in the progress, consummation, and results of the 
economy of grace. It was this divine Agent that 
moved upon the waters of the deep, reducing to 
order the chaotic mass, bringing forth light from 
the darkness, and having given shape and form to 
the earth, impregnated it with life -potencies, that 
it might bring forth herbs, fruits, and cereals for 
the sustenance of its future inhabitants. It was 

(305) 



306 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

he also that breathed into man the "breath of 
life" when he "became a living soul," and, as Job 
says, God "by his Spirit hath garnished the heav- 
ens." It was the same divine Agent whose power 
and efficiency effected that mysterious Avonder of 
wonders, the incarnation of God — the union of 
the divine and human natures in the person of the 
Mediator. It was announced to Mary, the Virgin 
Mother, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, 
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow 
thee," and she was made to conceive and bring 
forth " the Lord's anointed." What a wonderful 
work is here performed by this almighty Agent ! 
Although this act may not be considered as belong- 
ing to any of his special offices, yet the incarnation 
alone can justify and interpret the claim of Christ 
to the dual character as the " Son of man " and 
the " Son of God," while it laid the ground-work 
of human redemption through his sacrificial offer- 
ing upon the cross ; and it requires but little aid 
of the fancy to recognize in this almighty opera- 
tion of the Spirit the pledge of new life, spiritual 
birth, and union with God in Christ of all true be- 
lievers. We might also mention the descent of 
the Holy Spirit upon Jesus at his baptism ; this 
was his anointing and consecration as the Messiah 
to his holy office as the great High-priest, after 
the order of the priest-king, Melchisedec. 

That the third person of the Trinity, the Holy 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 307 

Ghost, performed an essential part in the inaugura- 
tion of the economy of grace, and that he ever 
will continue to perform such part in carrying it 
out to its ultimate results, is fully taught in the 
sacred writings. 

If the compassionate love of the Father was 
the moving cause of man's redemption, and the 
atonement by Christ the cause meritorious, the 
divine influence of the Holy Spirit is the cause 
efficient ; so that each of the persons of the God- 
head bears an essential part in this momentous 
concern, and here the whole Deity is known. 

Had Christ not suffered and died for man, the 
influences of the Holy Spirit could never have 
reached the world, since the claims of insulted 
justice, being unsatisfied, would have interposed 
an insurmountable barrier to such influence ; but 
the Saviour, having offered himself a sacrifice for 
sin, and in a short time would perform the crown- 
ing act of the work in ascending to the Father, 
told his disciples that it was expedient that he 
should go to the Father, for "If I go not away, 
the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I 
depart, I will send him unto you ; and when he is 
come, he will reprove the world of sin." These 
words of Christ set forth two things : (1) that his 
ascension to the Father was essential to the com- 
pletion of the great work of redemption ; (2) that 
the gift of the Holy Ghost, in his divine operations, 



308 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

is through the atonement. And as Christ came 
to redeem men and open up a way of communica- 
tion between earth and heaven, and having suc- 
cessfully conducted his work to its crowning act, 
in performing which he, in the presence of his gaz- 
ing disciples, ascends from Mount Olivet to the 
throne of the Father in heaven, this is the full 
complement of the plan of human redemption upon 
the part of Christ. He has passed successively 
through all its varying phases, from the manger to 
the cross, and from the cross to the throne. He 
has opened the way, that " neio and living way con- 
secrated by his blood forevermore." By it divine 
influence can now descend upon mankind dead in 
sin, and by its living light and warmth reestablish 
the lost sympathy between earth and heaven. It 
is also now practicable for fallen humanity — the 
body as well as the soul — to pass that way and 
be glorified together with Christ. It is rightly 
styled "the King's highway." 

The offices of the Holy Spirit, in the economy 
of man's redemption, are: 

I. As a revelator — to make known, through 
men by him divinely inspired, the character of 
God^and his will concerning mankind. We are 
informed in the New Testament Scriptures that 
" prophesy came not in old time by the will of 
man ; but holy men of old spake as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost." From this declaration 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 309 

it is evident that the world was not without that 
divine Agent previous to the day of Pentecost, to 
which John alluded when he said "the Holy Ghost 
was not yet given." His meaning was that his 
plenary power and influence had not been realized 
as they would be at and after that day; but still, 
from the testimony of the Scriptures, it is clear 
that he took a prominent part in the high concerns 
of human salvation. 

In all ages holy men have prophesied as they 
were inspired by the Holy Spirit, who is the only 
true " Spirit of prophecy," as no other spirit could 
inspire men to foretell future contingent events. 
By direct and independent communications he 
made known to mankind the knowledge of God 
and his will concerning them. He has unveiled 
the dark abyss of human depravity, the total cor- 
ruption of man's moral nature, and the turpitude 
and desert of actual transgression. He has un- 
folded to the world the sublime mysteries of man's 
redemption through the mediation of Jesus Christ, 
and made known the terms of reconciliation and 
salvation. To him the world is also indebted for 
the knowledge of the laws to which men must 
conform in order to happiness in this and the world 
to come. These laws — unlike human laws, which 
take cognizance only of outward actions — enter 
into the secret recesses of the heart and soul, and 
therein set up a tribunal of judgment. The phi- 



310 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

losophy of the laws revealed by the Spirit is, 
" Make the tree good, and his fruit will be good 
also" — cleanse the fountain, and the stream will 
be pure. The revealed laws, looking at the 
thoughts and intents of the heart, strike directly 
at the root, while those that are human can scarcely 
lop off some of the branches. It would be well, per- 
haps, here to remark that all the moral preceptive 
teaching of the Holy Spirit may be, and is, resolved 
into two general obligations — love to God, and love 
to our neighbor. "And Jesus said unto him, Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This 
is the first and great commandment. The second is 
like unto it : Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self. On these two commandments hang all the laiv 
and the prophets." And if the divine law, through 
the sinful "weakness of the flesh" cannot conform 
the souls of men to its spiritual and holy nature, 
the Holy Ghost has revealed himself as the al- 
mighty Agent who can renew their hearts, remove 
their moral impotency, and bring them finally to 
a complete conformity to all divine requirements. 
The Holy Spirit, as a revelator, has also fully 
made known to man not only that God must be 
worshiped, but also the principal acts we are to 
engage in, as well as the manner, or rather nature, 
of our performances, which alone can render our 
worship acceptable to him ; he cannot accept the 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 311 

worship which is merely in "word and in tongue." 
This was the kind of worship paid by the hypo- 
critical Pharisees: "This people draweth nigh 
unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with 
their lips ; but their heart is far from me." God 
must be worshiped "in spirit and in truth, for such 
the Father seeketh to worship him." Every act 
of obedience sincerely done is an act of worship, 
though many of these may be done privately; but 
the more special and public worship of God con- 
sists in prayer and praise, and the celebration of 
the ordinances of the gospel — baptism and the 
Lord's-supper, together with lawful oaths. These 
constitute the more public acts of divine worship. 
In all these we "draw nigh unto God," which we 
are required to do "with a true heart." 

Thus the Holy Ghost, as a revelator, has made 
known the character of God, the relation man sus- 
tains to him, and what he requires as indispensa- 
ble to salvation. 

Holy men, inspired by the Holy Spirit, have 
with minuteness of detail predicted future contin- 
gent events, of which predictions many have been 
fulfilled to the very letter. This fact is attested 
not only by sacred but by profane history also. 
The prophets were not only inspired to foretell 
future events, but likewise to teach the doctrines 
and laws revealed by the Spirit. But to accom- 
plish the high objects contemplated by the economy 



312 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

of salvation it was indispensable that the men pro- 
fessing to be sent of God to teach the world the 
way of eternal life should give, and the world had 
the right to demand, evidence of that important 
fact. Accordingly, 

II. It was the office of the Holy Ghost to fur- 
nish that evidence. The high claims of the proph- 
ets and apostles to be teachers sent of God were 
fully authenticated by supernatural works, or mira- 
cles, which they were enabled to perform. The 
same divine testimony fully vindicated the claim 
of Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, the true 
Messiah. On the day of Pentecost the Holy 
Ghost conferred on the apostles plenary power to 
perforin miracles, and such was the evidence of 
their heavenly calling that, under one short sermon 
delivered by Peter, three thousand were converted 
and added to the Church the same day. In that 
sermon the apostle informed them that the won- 
ders they saw and heard on that most striking oc- 
casion were the fulfillment of the Prophet Joel's 
prediction : "And it shall come to pass in the lat- 
ter days (of the Jewish economy) that on my 
servants and on my handmaidens will I pour out 
of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy." "And 
they began to speak with other tongues, as the 
Spirit gave them utterance." This, with many 
other passages, clearly shows that the power to 
perform miracles was given by the Holy Ghost. 






OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 313 

III. The Holy Spirit reproves the world of sin. 
Christ said, "When he is come, he will reprove 
the world of sin . . . of sin, because they believe 
not on me." We take the meaning of the word 
" reprove " as equivalent to that of the word con- 
vince. To this, we suppose, none will object. 
The Spirit, then, will reprove, convince, the world 
of sin. This he certainly did before the day of 
Pentecost, for God said to the wicked antediluvians, 
" My Spirit shall not always strive with man." 
This plainly shows that his divine influences ope- 
rated upon their hearts of violence and corruption, 
convincing them of their sin and striving to bring 
them to repentance. Again, it was said to the 
hard-hearted unbelieving Jews, " Ye do always re- 
sist the Holy Ghost; as did your fathers, so do 
ye." The ground of conviction of sin, though 
great before, was yet vastly enlarged after the 
ministry, miracles, resurrection, and ascension of 
Christ. " If I had not come and spoken to them, 
they had not sinned ; but now they have no cloak 
for their sin." Previous to this they were saying, 
with presumptuous impatience, "Where is the 
promise of his coming?" but now he is come, they 
reject him — not for want of full and overflowing 
evidence of his Messiahship, but they willfully 
choose darkness and continue in obdurate unbelief. 
Thus, the leading men among the Jews, though 
convinced of the truth and constrained to ackno wi- 
ld 



314 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

edge the miracles of Christ, gathered together and 
took counsel to kill him. Though the Spirit con- 
vinces all of sin, so that all are left "without ex- 
cuse," yet especially does he convince men of the 
sin of unbelief, striving to bring them to repent- 
ance and faith. Enigmas brought out of the dark 
shadows of heathendom and proposed to the Chris- 
tian for a solution in regard to the destiny of pa- 
gans, we turn over to the Apostle Paul, who says, 
" The Gentiles who have not the law (written) are 
a law unto themselves, and do by nature the things 
contained in the law, their conscience bearing them 
witness, their thoughts meanwhile accusing or else 
excusing one another;" and, "They that sin in 
the law shall be judged by the law; and they that 
sin without law shall be judged without law." 
Christ, at one time or another, has spoken to the 
whole world. In the early ages of Christianity, 
where darkness now reigns supreme, Churches were 
planted, the light of life was given, and men were 
called to the gospel-feast. What if the people of 
those regions by degrees became rejecters of the 
gospel-offers, haters of the light, choosing dark- 
ness rather? and what if their children voluntarily 
chose as their fathers did, and every succeeding 
generation, loving "darkness rather than light," 
freely made the same choice — each generation in- 
dorsing the course pursued by the generation next 
preceding, and all the course pursued by the first ? 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 315 

In such a case would the generation farthest re- 
moved from the first, along the line of time, be 
irresponsible ? Certainly not — no more than the 
murderous Jews who chose Barabbas and crucified 
Christ were irresponsible for the blood that was 
shed, from the blood of Abel all along the red line 
down to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, 
whom they slew between the temple and the altar. 
All this burden of blood Christ said should come 
upon that generation; and wherefore? Plainly, 
because they in spirit and act indorsed and sanc- 
tioned the course pursued by their blood : shedding 
fathers ; and why not so with the heathen ? From 
such a stand-point we may come to see how it is 
that the candlestick may be removed — hoAV a man 
or a nation may be given up to be filled with their 
own delusions — for the gospel be "hid from them 
that believe not,' and to be "blindfolded and led cap- 
tive by the devil at his will." None can say with 
certainty that the heathen nations even now have 
no light. If the sun has gone down upon them 
a single star may yet be seen in the dark heavens, 
sending down its trembling rays. Let them, as 
"wise men" follow that; it may guide them to the 
city of David, to the Babe of Bethlehem. 

Belief, in its low human sense, is what governs 
the world. Men live by what they believe. This 
as a general rule ; and if there are some who, in 
the affairs of life, go contrary to their convictions, 



316 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

they are only exceptions, and the exceptions prove 
the rule. Belief in the high religious, spiritual 
sense governs the Christian world. The Chris- 
tian's faith is what he walks, or lives, by. Belief, 
or disbelief, is the climacteric point upon which 
turns the salvation, or damnation, of men. This 
holds good in the common concerns of life. If a 
man disbelieves the things which make for his tem- 
poral good he is damned, or, in other words, he 
reaps the bitter fruits of his unbelief; but if he 
believes those things his acts will be governed ac- 
cordingly, and he is saved, or reaps the good fruits 
of his belief. So as to belief or disbelief in re- 
gard to the Son of God. Thus we come to the 
full meaning of the words of Christ : " He that 
belie veth shall be saved; he that believeth not 
shall be damned." This is the culminating and 
turning point ; here are two ever-diverging paths 
— the one is faith, the other unbelief. The "few" 
take the narrow path of faith, and are saved ; the 
"many" take the broad way of unbelief, and are 
damned. Hence, unbelief, in an emphatic sense, 
is the world's damning sin ; and hence, also, the 
Holy Spirit, in the same sense, reproves the world 
of sin, because they believe not in Christ. 

The Spirit takes the "things" of Christ and 
"shows" them to men, and so "a manifestation 
of the Spirit is given to every man." Thus by 
spiritual illuminations Christ becomes "the true 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 317 

light that lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world." In this way Christ speaks to men, and 
leaves them without any cloak for their sin. 

The Spirit of God is not bound ; he can operate 
upon the souls of men either directly and inde- 
pendently of outward means or indirectly through 
means. The first* is true with respect to both 
matter and mind. As to matter, "he moved upon 
the waters " and brought form out of the formless, 
and order out of confusion ; he breathed into the 
lifeless form the breath of life, and "man became 
a living soul." So does the Divine Spirit operate 
upon mind directly when he sees good, in the ab- 
sence of outward means. This is attested by the 
calling of the prophets under his immediate in- 
spirations, and by his divine and direct energy in 
creating souls anew in Christ Jesus. Some may 
object to this, wishing to confine his operations to 
outward means. Such an idea is too narrow to 
embrace his unlimited freedom. David prayed, 
"Uphold me by \hy free Spirit." The miraculous 
gifts' also come under the head of his direct and 
independent action. It is said, too, that he sheds 
abroad the love of God in our hearts. 

That the Holy Spirit, in his divine influences, 
uses outward means is also true. The written 
word, his revealed truth, the preaching of the gos- 
pel, and the gospel ordinances, together with God's 
providences, both prosperous and adverse, are the 



318 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. * 

ordinary means through which he works. Christ 
said his words were " Spirit and life." His words, 
simply on the letter and syllable side, were mere 
signs of ideas ; but on the spiritual side they were 
Spirit and life. "The Spirit quickeneth," "The 
Spirit giveth life/' "The sword of the Spirit is the 
word of God" — it is quick, pozverful, and sharp, 
made so by the Spirit. The word written and the 
word preached are means much employed by the 
Spirit to convince men of sin, with all other instru- 
ments which he, in his goodness and wisdom, may 
use. Upon the whole, we are bound to conclude 
that the Holy Ghost will so extend and adapt his 
divine operations in convincing men of sin as to 
leave the world without excuse. 

IV. It is the Holy Spirit's office to regenerate 
the heart and qualify it for heaven. Farther re- 
marks, however, upon this subject we shall for the 
present postpone, and notice it more fully after 
awhile. 

V. The Holy Spirit also administers the gov- 
ernment which Christ has established in the world, 
of which Christ is the regal Head. The Holy 
Ghost bore witness to Christ, giving unequivocal 
testimony that he was the true Messiah. John 
the Baptist says, "The same that sent me to bap- 
tize with water said unto me, Upon whom thou 
shalt see the Spirit of God descending and remain- 
ing on him, the same is he which baptizeth with 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 319 

the Holy Ghost." This testimony was responded 
to by the Father, in the voice from heaven, "This 
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 
The Apostle Peter also declares, "And we (apos- 
tles) are his witnesses, . . . and so is the Holy 
Ghost, whom he hath given to all them that obey 
him." Ever since the day of Pentecost the Holy 
Spirit, with full administrative powers, has con- 
ducted the affairs and supervised the high interests 
of the Messiah's kingdom, and will continue to do 
so until it shall be crowned with universal victory 
and triumph. Pie has more clearly unfolded to 
the world the terms of admission into the king- 
dom, compliance with which terms entitles to all 
the rights and blessings of that kingdom. Though 
much knowledge had been communicated in regard 
to these things under former dispensations, that 
knowledge was vastly increased when, on the day 
of Pentecost, in fulfillment of Joel's prophecy, the 
Spirit was poured out in rich abundance upon the 
disciples. 

It was also by the authority and administration 
of the Holy Ghost that the middle wall of parti- 
tion separating the Jews from the Gentiles was 
broken down. By his immediate revelation was 
"made known (or unfolded) the mystery which 
was hid in God from ages and generations." (See 
Eph. iii. 1-11.) This, with what is said with ref- 
erence to the same subject in Rom. xi., fully 



320 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

explains the "purpose," "predestination/' and 
"mystery" of God's will as spoken of in Eph. i. 
That mystery, according to its unfoldings by the 
Divine Spirit, included, first, the election of the 
Jews as the proper depository of the oracles of 
God, the covenants of promise, of whom, concern- 
ing the flesh, Christ should come, and to whom 
should first be preached a risen Saviour and remis- 
sion of sins through him, and that among them 
should be gathered the " first-fruits " of the gospel ; 
secondly, that the Gentiles who, in the above re- 
spects, had been rejected (see Rom. ix. 11, 12, 
with the whole connection in regard to the above 
ends) should "in the fullness of the times" "be 
made fellow-heirs and of the same body and par- 
takers of his promise by Christ through the gos- 
pel -" thirdly, that the now unbelieving rejected 
Jews, laying aside their obduracy, should " through 
the mercy of the Gentiles " be restored to the Di- 
vine favor, brought into the unity of the faith, fill- 
ing up the measure of the fullness of the body of 
Christ. These were the things contained in that 
long-hidden, but now revealed, mystery of God's 
will ; and this " according to his eternal purpose 
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
The purposes of God included in this mystery 
were totally unknown to the world until, as Paul 
declares (Eph. iii. 5), they were then "revealed 
to the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 321 

The revelation of these important matters by 
the Holy Spirit brought about a great change. It 
caused the affairs of the Church-kingdom, in sev- 
eral respects, to assume a new aspect; it intro- 
duced another important step in the Holy Spirit's 
administration. The Jews are stripped of their 
carnal boasting as the children of Abraham ; this 
frail reed, upon which they had so long leaned, is 
now broken. For their unbelief and great wick- 
edness, Ichabod is written upon their banners, for 
the glory has departed from them. Meanwhile, 
the divine Administrator is performing the func- 
tions of his holy office. With a light so brilliant 
that it is blinding he shines upon the bloody path 
of Saul of Tarsus, who, clothed with authority, is 
on his way to Damascus to harass and destroy 
the disciples of Jesus ; but here is an end to his 
bloody purpose. Suddenly struck blind and struck 
down, the startling interrogatory comes, Saul, 
Saul, why persecutest thou me ? and, being blind, 
he was led by the hand into the city, where, as 
the voice had informed him, it was told him what 
he must do. Here it was made known to him 
that he was "a chosen vessel" to proclaim Jesus 
and his salvation to the Gentiles. Not far from 
this time Peter, who was the apostle of the cir- 
cumcision — the Jews — saw in a vision at Joppa 
that nothing that God had cleansed should be 
thought " common or unclean." Meanwhile, mes- 
14* 



322 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

sengers from Cornelius, a devout man of Cesarea, 
arriving at Joppa, informed Peter that Cornelius 
also had seen a vision, in which he was instructed 
to send for Peter, who should tell him words 
whereby he and his house should be saved. From 
these things Peter gathered that duty required 
him to go, and being arrived at the house of Cor- 
nelius, he found an audience assembled to hear 
him ; and while he was preaching to them Jesus 
and the resurrection, the Holy Ghost fell upon 
them as upon the disciples on the day of Pente- 
cost. And Peter, converted from his notions of a 
salvation limited in its provisions, opened his 
mouth and said, "Now I perceive of a truth that 
God is no respecter of persons." In these two 
cases no less than six miracles were wrought by 
the Holy Spirit to clear the way for the gospel to 
the Gentiles, and for their free entrance into the 
Church-kingdom. Now, men are no more required 
to go up to Jerusalem to worship, but every one 
may worship "under his own vine and fig-tree." 
These are marvelous times. The venerated old 
Jewish economy is drawing to its close ; the priest 
will soon lay aside his miter and his robe, the 
blood of sacrificial beasts cease to flow, the smoke 
from altar-fires no longer rise, and the entire tem- 
ple-service is in a short time to be superseded by 
the simple forms of worship and service of the 
new institution. Men are now commissioned to 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 323 

go into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature; and, clothed with this authority, 
and called to this high office by the Holy Ghost, 
they are also by him furnished with ample creden- 
tials in the mighty signs and wonders which shall 
attend their ministry. These are steps of vast 
magnitude taken by the Holy Ghost, in his admin- 
istrative character, for the increase and enlarge- 
ment of the Messiah's kingdom. 

He also claimed and exercised the prerogative 
of appointing the high officials who were, by his 
authority and under him; to proclaim to the world 
the word of reconciliation to God, and to adminis- 
ter the laws and ordinances of the Church-kingdom. 
This prerogative he never has surrendered, nor 
will he ever do so. "Let no man take this honor 
to himself, but he that is called of God as was 
Aaron." This prerogative of the Divine Spirit is 
fully recognized and attested by the apostles on 
the occasion when one was to be appointed to fill 
the place of the traitor Judas. It seems that a 
choice was to be made between Joseph and Mat- 
thias, as it is likely they were the only ones, ex- 
cept the eleven, who had "companied with Jesus" 
from his baptism to his ascension, and this may 
explain the reason why they only were presented. 
"And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which 
Jcnoivest the hearts of all men, show whether of 
these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part 



324 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

of this ministry and apostleship." In this prayer 
two important points are settled — (1) God's pre- 
rogative to choose; (2) his exclusive qualification. 
His prerogative to choose is recognized by their 
appeal to him to show which of the two he had 
chosen ; his qualification to choose is established 
upon the ground of his all-heart knowledge — 
"Thou knowest the hearts of all men." Now, if 
the knowledge of the hearts of men is an indis- 
pensable qualification to choose men for the gospel 
ministry, it will inevitably follow that none but 
God is qualified, since he only knows the hearts 
of men. Had no other than outward and visible 
qualifications been necessary, the apostles might 
have made the selection themselves; but the om- 
niscient Spirit had a preference, and that prefer- 
ence was founded upon something in Matthias 
which the apostles could not know, and was known 
to him alone who knew the heart. Now, if a 
knowledge of the heart is necessary as a qualifi- 
cation to select men for the gospel ministry, then 
none but God is qualified to call men to fill that 
sacred office. It ever has been and ever will be 
the prerogative of the Holy Ghost. Men may 
make void the laws of God through their traditions, 
or assume to themselves a prerogative which be- 
longs, exclusively, to the Holy Spirit. This un- 
happy blunder may be perpetrated by fixing a 
high human standard of literary qualification for 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 325 

the ministry, and then, by ecclesiastical enactments 
or usage, debar all who cannot meet the special 
requirements. When men become wise above 
what is written, and arrogate to themselves the 
authority virtually to set limits to the heart-know- 
ing Spirit, and undertake to conduct the important 
concerns of Christ's kingdom, under the leader- 
ship of worldly wisdom and human policy, they 
may expect, sooner or later, to reap the fruits of 
their folly in disappointed hopes and expectations, 
if in nothing worse. No folly is so great as the 
prudence which sets aside the wisdom and author- 
ity of God. 

Men are prone to forget that u faith stands not 
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." 
The whole life of Jesus Christ, from the manger 
to the cross, and from the cross to the throne, per- 
fectly harmonized with his incarnation, and both 
put together presented an enigma that the wisest 
doctors and lawyers were unable to solve. It was 
a contradiction to all the dictates of carnal reason 
and human prudence. For men to come to thrones 
and reign as kings through the blood of others, has 
been thought both wise and convenient ; but for a 
man to propose to found a kingdom and reign a 
universal monarch at the expense (exclusively) of 
his own blood, would seem an impossibility; so it 
tvould be with men, but not with God. In calling 
men to be his standard-bearers, Christ did not con- 



326 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

fine himself to the unlettered menders of fishing 
nets, nor to men brought up at the feet of Gama- 
liel; but he took some of both,* and thus adopted 
and brought into his spiritual kingdom that diver- 
sity which we see everywhere prevailing in the 
empire of nature. Diversity in unity is the grand 
climacteric of divine order and harmony; it is 
" the wisdom of God in a mystery," and no prog- 
ress or civilization of man can change or improve 
it. It may be asked, " Is not literary knowledge 
a handmaid to religion ? " Certainly — an excel- 
lent one. But let not Hagar presumptuously as- 
sume the authority of Sarah ; the handmaid the 
place of the mistress. In the Church-kingdom 
the great business of literary knowledge is to 
know how to behave itself — to serve, not to rule. 
And here lies the danger, that while the Church 
would free herself from the reproach of an un- 
learned ministry, she may take station on the 
other extreme; and, forgetting that God alone 
knows the heart, may limit his prerogative by set- 
ting up a high standard of literary acquirements, 
saying to all candidates for the ministerial office, 
Come up to this standard, and you shall be a 
preacher; if not, you may go home and follow 
the plow. In such a condition little or no mar- 
gin is left for the. action of him who "knows the 
hearts of men." In this way the Church might 
rear a race of giant dwarfs; giants in human 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 327 

learning ; dwarfs in grace, spirit, and power. The 
path of safety lies between the rocks and the 
whirlpool — between no standard of literary at- 
tainments and a standard high and absolute. The 
one leans to the side of ignorance and reproach ; 
the other, while it encroaches upon the preroga- 
tive of God, leans to the side of carnal policy, and 
an uncalled, self-seeking ministry. These are the 
two extremes — no literary standard at all on the 
one hand, and a standard high and absolute on the 
other. Between these extremes where shall we 
find the medium ? Neither of the extremes has 
the whole truth — each has a part. The no-stand- 
ard extreme fully recognizes the prerogative of 
God in calling men to the ministry. This much 
of truth there. The absolutism connected with 
the high standard comes in contact with God's pre- 
rogative to call whom he will; but truth is found 
in its recognition of the fact that literary knowl- 
edge is an excellent handmaid to the gospel min- 
istry. Now let us take what of truth we find on 
either side, and putting them together we have 
the sum which amounts to this, first, The prerog- 
ative of God by his Spirit to call, without being 
limited by human standards. Secondly, literary 
attainments as an excellent handmaid to the gos- 
pel ministry. These two truths joined together 
constitute the medium ; but neither side will ad- 
mit of coercion. God may be prayed to send 



328 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

laborers, but he will not be dictated to as to how 
many or of what particular description of men he 
shall send. So also on the other side :" men may 
be advised and persuaded to read and study, or to 
enter the school-room, where literary knowledge 
may be obtained, but they will not be forced ; and 
joining prayer upon the one hand, and advice, per- 
suasion, and facilities upon the other, we have a 
system working in harmony with the wisdom of 
Christ; a system which, if encouraged and fos- 
tered, will work out in the end the happiest re- 
sults. But since we have separated what of truth 
we found at the no-standard extreme, which threat- 
ens the ministry and Church with ignorance and 
reproach, and separated what of truth we found 
at the other extreme, which threatens an encroach- 
ment upon the prerogative of God, and the evil 
of an uncalled, self-seeking ministry, what shall 
we do with the two extremes ? We respectfully 
bid them adieu, hoping they will erelong change 
their views, and in the future behave with discre- 
tion and prudence in the house of God. 

This is emphatically a fast age. Men are hur- 
rying all they can hurry, and every thing that can 
hurry is in turn hurrying men. Progress is the 
watchword ; and progress, too, is in a great hurry. 
Men are in a hurry to get riches — to obtain power, 
popularity, and sensual gratifications. They are 
in a great hurry to find amusements at the theater, 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 329 

the circus, the ball-room, and dancing party. But 
now the scene reverses : although they hurry to 
the places of amusement, they are in no hurry to 
get away; in no hurry to get to church, but in a 
great hurry to get away. Short songs, short 
prayers, and short sermons, is the order of the 
day. Progress, the watchword, in a hurry? She 
is in a great race. Some would enter religion, 
too, and run that for the stakes. The popular cry 
is, u Religion must keep pace with the spirit of 
the age." What, let us inquire, is the spirit of 
the age ? The spirit of religion is the spirit of 
meekness, the spirit of humility, of patience, of 
brotherly kindness and charity. Is that the 
spirit of the age? What if the answer is No? 
Then we enter our most decided protest against 
" the popular cry." That popular cry contains in 
it a dangerous sophism, which is leading the "fast" 
men of the Church astray, and many of the un- 
wary are following in their wake. Progress is 
right, if in the right direction. Progress in let- 
ters, in mechanism, in husbandry, is all well 
enough ; but for improvement in these and the 
like, there might be in the world a mental stagna- 
tion. To improve is one thing, but to know what 
to improve is quite another. The heads of some 
men are so full of the ideas of improvement that 
they want to improve every thing, even religion. 
Can that be improved which is already perfect? 



330 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Some of the outside appurtenances of religion 
may be improved : in regard to comfort and con- 
venience, houses of worship may be improved ; so 
might the taste and manners of many who mix 
with the worshipers. The true worship itself is 
not susceptible of improvement • that has in it the 
"Spirit" and the "truth" and both these are per- 
fect. What is the meaning of candles, and pic- 
tures, and organs in houses of God's worship? 
Can they bring into the soul the inspirations of 
the Spirit and of truth ? If so, why not in pic- 
ture-galleries and at theaters ? At the risk of 
being set down as behind " the spirit of the age," 
we venture the opinion that the "Spirit and truth" 
are seldom farther from men than when they are 
at such places, especially the latter. Can such 
things afford any aid in the true worship of God ? 
If so, let those who are disposed take another step 
backward a little farther into Judaism and bring 
up more of the dead types and give them a place 
in Christian worship. Among these mouldered 
corpses they can make a large selection. In the 
first place they can make out a draft of Solomon's 
typical temple, and all who are able may rob the 
poor of the gospel — the blind, and the lame, and 
the sick of alms, and squander their money upon 
Christian church-houses, and make them like Sol- 
omon's typical temple, and decorate them inside 
and out with an abundance of gold and silver. 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 331 

The Christian ministry can put on the old robe 
and the miter, send up the smoke of sacrificial al- 
tars, and get up the ephod, and the breast-plate, 
and the urim and thummim — if they know what 
they were — and thus their sacerdotals would be 
in keeping with their houses of worship. For the 
order of worship, they may introduce as wind, or 
stringed instruments, in addition to what they al- 
ready have, the psaltery and harp, the loud and 
high-sounding cymbal, the trumpet, and ram's-horn, 
and above all, the timbrel and dance. Would not 
all these, especially the timbrel and dance, be close 
up to " the spirit of the age," and make the houses, 
glittering with gold and the showy pageant wor- 
ship of God, vastly more attractive to the outside 
world ? * Could the Christian have and tolerate 
these things and not be a Jew ? A Jew denies 
Christ, and is an infidel. Can a man be a Jew and 
not be an infidel? Solomon's temple, with its entire 
service, was typical of Christ and the glory of his 
spiritual, gospel kingdom; and in so far as we in- 
troduce those types and shadows into the Christian 
worship, we have gone back to Judaism, and who- 
ever in these things seeks for justification is " fallen 
from grace." What good thing is there that may 
not be abused? Eating, and drinking, and sleeping, 
are all necessary and good in their places, but when 

* On page 475 will be found an article upon this impor- 
tant subject from the pen of Dr. A. Clarke. 



332 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

excessively indulged in, the excess becomes a nui- 
sance, and calls for abatement. The pleasures de- 
rived from the beautiful, the grand, the magnifi- 
cent, through the sight of the eyes, are lawful and 
right ; but when the desire of pleasure, or of wis- 
dom, is carried to the excess of approaching and 
taking of the forbidden tree, the excess ends in 
death. So with literary knowledge, which is as 
liable to abuse as almost any thing else. Wisdom 
may be so prostituted as to be made subservient 
to the most diabolic ends. The wiser the serpent, 
the more harm he can do, and the deeper is his 
damnation. Human wisdom is never more guilty 
of self-abuse than when it sets itself up against 
the wisdom and prerogative of God. It is never 
so far from abuse as when it willingly subordinates 
itself to the prerogative of God and to the high 
interests of his Church. At this point it might 
be well to call up the extremes in regard to the 
literary qualifications of the gospel ministry. On 
the side of the high, absolute standard extreme, 
good men may have seen religion so humanized, 
or carnalized, that it had almost lost its spiritual 
vitality, and was nearly dead. Alarmed at this 
extreme, they have precipitately fled across the 
medium ground, never stopping until they reached 
the no-standard extreme, which ignores all literary 
acquirements upon the part of the ministry. And 
reversing the case — good men, alarmed at the want 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 333 

of due qualification of the ministry as workmen 
that need not be ashamed, and the consequent 
reproach of the Church, have fled to the high, ab- 
solute standard extreme. How hard it is for men 
to find and settle upon the " happy medium " and 
stay there! The experience of near six thousand 
years has failed to teach men this wisdom. 

It is certainly the office of the Holy Spirit to 
appoint his own embassadors to negotiate the 
terms of peace and reconciliation with a rebellious 
world. This office he never will resign into the 
hands of short-sighted men; nor should he, because 
he alone " knows what is in man," and by conse- 
quence knows best whom to appoint. 

There are, it is likely, three classes of ministers 
in the visible Church : first, the self-appointed, 
who have artfully imposed themselves upon the 
Church, and extorted from the Church credentials 
of authority. Secondly, men whose call to the 
sacred office is exclusively confined to the Church, 
and who have been urged and pressed forward hj 
the Church, if not contrary to their convictions 
of duty, yet without any of a deep and weighty 
character, involving their conscience. Thirdly, 
men who have been moved by the Holy Ghost to 
seek the sacred office, and to whose heavenly call- 
ing the Church has responded in clothing them 
with ecclesiastical authority to proclaim to this 
rebellious world " the word of reconciliation " to 



334 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

God. This latter class comes within the range of 
the divine promise — " Lo, I am with you alway." 
These are the men whose hearts from their lowest 
depths have been stirred by "the power of an 
endless life ;" whose bones are all afire with " the 
word of God." Christ has put his Spirit in them. 
What wonder that, like him, they should be " go- 
ing about doing good ? " Such men cannot stay 
at home without sacrificing a good conscience and 
spiritual enjoyments. As it is certain that the 
word of inspiration has said, " Study to show thy- 
self approved a workman that need not be 
ashamed," so certain is it their duty to avail 
themselves of every opportunity, advantage, and 
facility within their reach to store their minds with 
useful knowledge, whether scientific, classical, or 
theological, and it is the implied duty of the 
Church to bring these advantages and facilities 
within their reach. The day is not far distant 
when a preacher of the gospel without a respect- 
able share of literary and biblical knowledge — es- 
pecially the latter — will be a reproach to himself, 
to the cause of Christ, and to the Church to which 
he belongs. Meanwhile, let not human knowledge 
and its power think to supplant the wisdom and 
power of God in putting forth the hand of Uzzah 
to steady the ark, and dogmatically say, We have 
in our wisdom erected a high educational stand- 
ard ; it is absolute ; come up to this, and we ad- 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 335 

mit you; fall below, and we reject you. It is 
enough for him who "knows the heart" to be 
dogmatic ; and so he was when he said, " Let no 
man take this honor to himself but he that is 
called of God as was Aaron." 

In the prophetic age of the Church there were 
many schools called the schools of the prophets. 
The young men in these schools were called u sons 
of the prophets." One of these schools was at 
Bethel, another at Naioth in Rama, another at 
Jericho, and still another at Gilgal. These proph- 
ets were quite numerous. Probably it was of these 
sons of the prophets that were cut off by Jezebel, 
and that to the number of a hundred were hidden 
by Obadiah in a cave. Over these schools pre- 
sided, as we suppose, the older prophets, as we 
learn from I Kings xix. 19, 20, that Samuel was 
appointed over the school at Naioth in Rama. 
They were the public preachers or teachers of 
religion, and in these schools they were instructed 
and qualified for their important office. But these 
institutions prescribed no limits to the prerogative 
of the Holy Ghost; or, supposing they did, he 
totally disregarded them in calling Amos, who de- 
clares himself that he was not one of the sons of 
prophets, but a herdsman, "yet the Lord took 
him as he followed the flock," and said to him, 
" Go prophesy unto my people, Israel." See 
Amos vii. 14. Other similar instances, it is prob- 



336 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

able, may have occurred, and thus the Holy Ghost 
asserts his unrestricted freedom in calling whom 
he will ; and no man, or society of men, has the 
right, either by precedent, usage, or law, to put 
an interdict upon whom he calls. Diversity in 
unity is the divine order established by the Holy 
Ghost. The "foot," the "hand," the "ear," the 
" eye," all members of one body. So is the body 
of Christ. Some prophets, some teachers and 
pastors, some exhorters, others for helps and gov- 
ernments, all working together in harmony in one 
body to the " edifying of itself in love." As in 
" diversity of gifts," so also in the diversity of 
talent employed by the Holy Spirit in carrying 
out the objects contemplated in the divine polity. 
Paul was large-hearted — had " much learning," 
with a mind powerfully logical. Peter, bold and 
impetuous — " a plain, blunt man," that " spoke 
right on" — simple-minded, honest, with no pre- 
tensions to human learning. James, direct and 
sententious. The dashing Matthew — so called by 
an infidel — brings us to a near view of the Man 
of Calvary on the cross, while the thundering 
earthquake, the rending rocks and darkened heav- 
ens responding to the sobs and groans of his great 
loving and breaking heart, attest with an unearthly 
eloquence that God as well as man is there. The 
words of Apollos were as smooth as oil and sweet 
as honey; the loving heart of the beloved John 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 337 

overflowed with love's refluent wave ; and so the 
diversity prevailed among the apostles and minis- 
ters of the formative age of Church-kingdom, and 
ever will prevail. The Holy Ghost saw good to 
interweave it with his policy in accomplishing the 
great objects of the atonement, the total destruc- 
tion of Satan's empire, and the triumphant reign 
of Messiah. 

In this diversity in the Christian ministry, we 
have men of different orders of talent, tempera- 
ment, modes of thinking, and modes of communi- 
cating thought. The variety also obtains in re- 
gard to literary and biblical knowledge ; but the 
attainments of the lowest in the scale should be, 
at the least, respectable. If not, to the shame of 
the delinquent and of the Church be it said. But 
this diversity in Christ's ministry never has been 
broken up ; likely, never can ; certainly best it 
never should ; it is a part of the infinitely wise pol- 
icy of the Holy Spirit in his divine administration. 
Unity in diversity, and diversity in unity, is the di- 
vine order throughout the known universe. This 
brings us upon what Paul says upon the subject 
with regard to the Church ; after speaking of the 
diversity of gifts bestowed by the Spirit upon the 
different members, he joins the members in a body 
thus : " From whom (Christ) the whole body fitly 
joined together and compacted by that which 
every joint supplieth, according to the effectual 
15 



338 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

working in the measure of every part, maketh in- 
crease of the body unto the edifying of itself in 
love." 

VI. It is the office of the Holy Ghost to comfort 
the hearts of God's children. This we learn from 
the word of truth — John xv. 26 : " But when the 
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you 
from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which 
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of 
me." This promise to his disciples Christ repeats, 
John xvi. 7 : "It is expedient for you that I go 
away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will 
not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send 
him unto you." This, as shown by Peter, was 
fulfilled on the day of Pentecost : " Therefore 
(Christ) being by the right hand of God exalted, 
and having received of the Father the promise of 
the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye 
now see and hear." Allusion is here no doubt 
made to the promise in the prediction by Joel, but 
especially to that of the Comforter made in Pe- 
ter's hearing by the Saviour. 

We are not to suppose that the Church of God, 
previous to the day of Pentecost, enjoyed none 
of the consolations of the Holy Spirit. The lan- 
guage of David, wherein he petitions that God 
would "grant him his Spirit, and restore to him 
the joys of his salvation;" also the language of 
Elizabeth, Mary, Anna, and Simeon, clearly indi- 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 339 

cate the comforting influences of the Holy Spirit. 
But we may understand that at and after the day 
of Pentecost there was and should be continued a 
more copious effusion of the Spirit than when the 
Church was under a symbolic or typical dispensa- 
tion, and more especially since a new dispensation 
was about to supersede the old one. A great rev- 
olution was now to take place ; a new order of 
things was to be organized; the Messiahship of 
Christ was to be vindicated, and the truth of the 
farther revelation made by Christ and his apostles 
was to be established, all which would meet with 
the most violent opposition. Under these circum- 
stances the Church would need an enlarged degree 
of spiritual comfort, lest they should weary and 
faint in their minds. And moreover, chains, dun- 
geons, and martyrdom, were not so common under 
the old dispensation as they would be under the 
new. The Church was also to be infested with 
grievous wolves and damnable heresies. The fear- 
ful " mystery of iniquity " embodied in " the man 
of sin " was beginning to work even in Paul's day. 
This, the most artful and consummate machinery 
which was. ever invented by the faculty of hell, 
was to work on with its signs and lying wonders, 
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, 
until the coming of the Lord, when he, " the man 
of sin," shall be totally destroj^ed. The condition 
of the Church under these circumstances would 



340 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

certainly require a higher degree of spiritual com- 
fort and joy in the Holy Ghost. This comfort has 
been realized in every stage of her pilgrimage 
since the fulfillment of Christ's promise on the 
day of Pentecost. 

The Holy Spirit comforts the followers of Christ 
in bearing witness with their spirit that they are 
truly God's children. How wonderfully consoling 
must this be to their souls — to feel an assurance 
that God is their Heavenly Father ; and more es- 
pecially since their eternal happiness depends 
upon their sustaining this relationship to him; 
and being assured that they do sustain it, they 
"have hope toward God," which is as an anchor of 
the soul " both sure and steadfast." The conjoint 
testimony of their spirit and the Spirit of God is 
evidence of the highest order, and brings with it at 
times "joy unspeakable." They are adopted into 
their Heavenly Father's Church -family — have 
found a new brotherhood, and changed their rela- 
tion to the world. Entering into covenant with 
God in Christ, the old bond is broken which held to 
servitude to the world and sin. " The law of the 
spirit of life in Christ " has made them " free from 
the laws of sin and death." In God's spiritual 
family, into which they are adopted, they have 
found brethren whom they love. They love the 
gates of Zion. An inward spiritual force impels 
them toward the house of God. They can say 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 341 

with David, "One thing have I desired, that will I 
seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord 
forever to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to 
inquire in his temple." Turning away from the 
world and its delusive pleasures, their faces are set 
toward the hill of Zion. All these spiritual attrac- 
tions toward the children of God and their com- 
panionship — toward the courts of Zion desiring to 
dwell in the house of the Lord, are from the Holy 
Spirit, and are sources of much comfort as collateral 
evidence that they are the children of God. 

He abides with the saints forever — never for- 
sakes them — never leaves them comfortless. 1. 
He dwells in them as his " temple," that they may- 
keep that " good thing committed to them by the 
Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us." 2. To in- 
crease, invigorate, and confirm their faith in Christ 
and in the divine promises. Hence, the admoni- 
tion, "Add to your faith, virtue " — vigor or strength. 
Hence, too, the prayer, " Lord, increase our faith," 
— ail which is effected by the Holy Spirit's influ- 
ence. 3. To assist them in their terrible conflicts 
with the world, the flesh, and Satan. As their 
divine Leader won the victory in the wilderness, 
so shall they win it. " When the enemy comes 
in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up 
a standard against him." 4. To impart to them 
strength and deliverance in the hour of tempta- 
tion, he makes a way " for their escape, that they 



342 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

be able to bear it ;" and " The Lord knoweth how- 
to deliver the godly out of temptation." 5. To 
aid them in the discharge of duties, whether of 
the pulpit or of the family, the sanctuary or the 
closet, he makes the word preached by his called and 
sent "quick and powerful." Aided by his holy in- 
spirations, the prayer of faith goes up from the 
" shut " closet, and the heart of the God-loving 
parent is inspired by him with Joshua's resolu- 
tion, "As for me and my house, we will serve the 
Lord." In all the uncounted varieties of life 
along the Christian's pathway, " He helpeth their 
infirmities." 6. The crowning consolation im- 
parted by the indwelling comforter is the " love 
of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 
Ghost which is given unto us." This, for the first 
time, is realized in the hour of conversion ; but is 
repeated to the thirsting soul as showers of rain 
upon the thirsty earth, renewing its face and start- 
ing new life and growth in its vegetable offspring. 
This high-born principle of love — "love unfeigned," 
" fervent " love, " charity out of a pure heart" — is 
the all-animating, prompting power which regards 
Christ's yoke easy and his burden light ; which 
bears with patient endurance the cross, with the 
sneers, and scoffs, and persecutions the world 
heaps upon it ; the privations, toils, and hardships 
incident to the life of a Christian soldier. It is 
the moral centripetal bond, uniting in Christ the 



OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 343 

soul to God — -brother to brother and earth to 
heaven. Faith, indeed, is the mighty implement 
of the Christian warfare, but it lives and " works 
by love." Faith enters the lists and joins the 
battle, but love inspires the courage and nerves 
the arm. Faith wins the conquest, and both faith 
and love ascribe all the honor and glory to God. 
Faith and hope are great, but charity (love) is 
greatest of all ; it is destined to an endless dura- 
tion. It pervades not only the unnumbered mil- 
lions of the redeemed and white-robed saints, but 
also all upright beings in God's intelligent uni- 
verse. Under its perpetually rejuvenating power 
heaven can never grow old, and it will eternally 
hold the sons and heirs of glory in all the fresh- 
ness, bloom, and beauty of youth. "God is love." 



PART VIIL— THE CHURCH OF 
CHRIST. 



Its True Character. 



A PARTICULAR Church is a number of per- 
sons who believe on Jesus Christ, and have 
united in society to worship the one true God, and 
take the Holy Scriptures as the only infallible 
rule of faith and practice, having the gospel of 
Christ and its ordinances administered among 
them. In a more extended sense, the Church 
consists of all such societies, scattered over the 
earth, of whatever sect or denomination. But as 
many in every age have attached themselves to 
the outward, visible Church, who were not true 
members of Christ's spiritual body, we shall, for 
the sake of distinction, speak of his Church on 
the earth as being both invisible and visible. 

The invisible Church is constituted of all Chris- 
tians in heart as well as by profession, and are 
known to God only, while the visible Church is 
seen and known of men. Into the visible 'Church 
many have crept " unawares," bringing damnable 
heresies — "men of corrupt minds," teachers of 

(314) 



THE CHURCH OP CHRIST. 345 

false doctrines, subverting the hearers and turn- 
ing them away from the simplicity of the truth 
as it is in Jesus. Such false pretenders have af- 
flicted the Church in every age, and still afflict it. 
They claim to be members of the Church, and so 
they are in name, and outwardly. They have 
ever been the disturbers of the peace of Zion, 
causing the way of truth to be evil spoken of. 
Men of the world take pleasure in holding them 
up as true exponents of Christianity, than which 
nothing is mor^ unfair and false. They are slan- 
ders upon the religion of Christ — the foul spittle 
of the enemy upon the fair face of Jesus. Hav- 
ing a name to live, they are dead — dead in sin — 
dead-weights and impediments to the cause of 
Christ — a curse to the Church and a disgrace to 
themselves. These are the tares among the wheat, 
grievous wolves that scatter the flock, spots in her 
feasts of charity, and blemishes upon her fair es- 
cutcheon • but the Church must suffer and bear it 
all. A sinful and an uncandid world ever has and 
ever will make the Church the scape-goat to bear 
the sins of her spurious membership. The wicked 
will not take the trouble, nor are they disposed, 
to discriminate between the base metal and the 
pure — the counterfeit and the genuine coin, the 
nominal and the real Christian. Well, if it must, 
let it be so; but the day is coming when "ye 
shall return and discern between the righteous and 
15* - 



346 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the wicked ; between him that serves God and 
him that serves him not." 

But in the true, spiritual body, which we style 
the invisible Church, there are no counterfeits — 
no merely nominal Christians ; all are truly con- 
verted ; they are the children of God by faith in 
Christ Jesus — members of his mystical body, 
growing into a holy temple in the Lord. The 
time will come when all things will be brought to 
the light of day; then shall the now invisible 
Church be seen by an assembled world in all her 
bridal beauty and glory. That part of the Church 
in heaven and that on earth shall then unite, em- 
bodying the full complement of Christ, " the full- 
ness of him who filleth all in all." 

Of the Church, Christ himself is the head. 
Reason itself teaches this. A human head would 
be out of its place upon the body of Christ. If 
the Church, the body of Christ, was merely hu- 
man, a human head would do very well, but not 
otherwise. Again, wherever the members are, 
there also the head should be, and so Christ prom- 
ised : " Where two or three are gathered together 
in my name, there am I in the midst." A human 
head, whether Gregory the Great, or Pius IX., 
could not say this and speak the truth. Peter 
himself could not have said it without blasphemy. 
Christ said to his standard-bearers, " Go ye into 
all the world, . . . and, lo, I am with you alway." 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 347 

No human being could make such a promise with- 
out the extremest presumption. His holiness, the 
Pope of Rome, who claims to be the head of the 
Church universal, may be present with a few at 
Rome, or even at an Ecumenical Council, but, 
poor mortal, he can be present nowhere else at the 
same time. Like other frail mortals, popes must 
die, and in that case the Church, the body of 
Christ, of which they claim the headship, must be 
headless until another pope is elected. 

We have abundant testimony, even from Rom- 
ish authority, that no little political as well as ec- 
clesiastical intrigue and corruption have played 
their part in the election of some of the popes, 
and that some of them have led most abominable 
and scandalous lives. What a monster— a re- 
deemed, sanctified body with a devilish head ! 

We know the arrogant claims of the papacy. 
Not only does it claim the headship of the Church 
of Christ, but also the power to dethrone emper- 
ors and kings, and to absolve their subjects from 
allegiance to their governments. This high-handed 
claim has been carried into practice, deposing some, 
obliging them to kiss his toe, to hold his stirrup, 
treading even upon the neck of a king, and kick- 
ing off the imperial crown with his foot. 

The papacy also claims to be the only true 
Church, and that salvation is found within its 
pale alone. And hence, all Protestants are vile 



348 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

heretics, and are on the road to perdition. Popes 
greatly boast of a regular apostolic succession — 
that they can trace back an unbroken line of popes 
to Peter, whom they style the prince of the apos- 
tles. Perhaps they may be able to trace back a 
regular succession until they get to Pope Joan, 
who, it is said (by way of paradox), was a woman, 
and a very base one. Here, of course, is a miss- 
ing link, to say nothing of the middle ages, called 
the dark ages, consisting of several hundred years 
when the knowledge of letters and the light of 
science suffered an almost total eclipse, and ignor- 
ance and superstition reigned triumphant. How is 
it possible that such succession could be legiti- 
mately traced through centuries of deep darkness, 
in the midst of the political, social, and religious 
upheavals which mark that long period ? 

But even granting to the Church of Rome this 
coveted garment, would that hide her nakedness ? 
The Jews in Christ's day boasted loudly of their 
lineal descent from Abraham. This, though true 
literally, was a lie spiritually; for Christ told them 
that if they were the children of Abraham, they 
would do the works of Abraham ; and so far from 
being his children, they were the children of the 
devil. He denounced them as "whitecl sepul- 
chers," and " ravening wolves," and "hypocrites." 
And his forerunner, John, called them " serpents, 
a generation of vipers." So much, then, for their 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 349 

vainglorying in their Abrahamic succession. Vain 
was this boasting when, by their hypocrisy and 
wickedness, they had scandalized their noble pa- 
ternity; when they had made void the law through 
their traditions. This very boasting John struck 
from their lips when he told them that " God was 
able of these stones to raise up children unto 
Abraham." As John said to the Pharisees and 
Sadducees, so we might say to the Romish Church, 
Think not to say within yourselves, we have suc- 
ceeded apostolically from Peter, for God is able 
to convert stony-hearted sinners, putting in them 
his Spirit, by which Peter was actuated, and thus 
make them the true spiritual successors of Peter. 
Ye blind guides, can you not see this ? Was it 
not faith in Christ, irrespective of carnal descent, 
that constituted the true spiritual seed of Abra- 
ham, and heirs of the promise ? So all converted 
men, called of God, and having the faith and spirit 
of the apostles, are their true spiritual successors, 
and the legitimate heirs of the promise, "Lo, I am 
with your Have there not been popes and bish- 
ops of the Church of Rome who lived scandal- 
ously wicked ? Let their own historians answer. 
Were they the proper heirs of Christ's promise ? 
No more than those Jewish serpents and vipers 
were the true heirs of the promise made to Abra- 
ham and his seed. This boasted succession (even 
if it could be established) is of no value in the 



350 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

absence of the spirit, life, and teachings of the 
apostles. 

Did the apostles possess the spirit of persecu- 
tion, of burning heretics to death? Did the apos- 
tles teach that Christ was really offered in sacri- 
fice every time the ordinance of the Lord's-supper 
is celebrated ? Did they teach the Romish dogma 
of praying souls out of purgatory — the dogma of 
the celibacy of the clergy, of the merit of works, 
of works of supererogation ; the doctrine of in- 
dulgences, or buying with money pardons of the 
most atrocious crimes ? Did they teach how to 
make and to use holy water, holy oil, holy can- 
dles, holy relics, holy images ? Did the apostles 
teach the worship of images, the praying to saints, 
praying to Mary, praying to Peter, to Paul, and 
to perhaps hundreds of others? Did they teach 
that Mary was the fountain of mercy, the foun- 
tain of joy, and the queen of heaven ? Did they 
teach the sprinkling of holy water upon horses, 
mules, asses, and cattle, to preserve them by way 
of charm or miracle from disease and death ? We 
might continue these interrogatives a great deal 
farther, and at last get no truthful affirmative an- 
swer ; for the apostles taught no such things. No 
wonder that the stupid hearers of the Romish 
priesthood are turned from the truth unto fables. 

Roman Catholics, to evade the charge of hav- 
ing persecuted to death so many thousands of so- 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 351 

called heretics, throw the responsibility of the 
inhuman butchery upon the secular authorities. 
They plead that the Church goes no farther than 
to condemn and anathematize and turn them over 
to the secular power. But this is a vain shift, since 
the very laws by which such heretics are put to 
death, are the enactments of Romish legislators, un- 
der the influence and control of the Catholic faith. 

The Romish Church claims to be the " Mother 
Church," the mother of all the Protestant Churches. 
How happens it that she bears such deadly hatred 
toward her children ? What an unnatural mother ! 
And w T ould fain have strangled them all at their 
birth. What a cruel mother ! 

Protestants are not ambitious of this maternity. 
They could take no pride in being considered the 
daughters of a drunken mother and the sisters of 
harlots. They have obeyed the voice of God by 
the mouth of the prophet, "Come out of her my 
people, that ye be not partakers of her sins." 

Though Daniel, God's prophet, and other pious 
Jews, dwelt awhile in Babylon, and righteous Lot 
and his family in Sodom, yet neither Babylon nor 
Sodom was the Church of God. So neither is 
the apostate fraternity which is "spiritually called 
Sodom and Babylon? the Church of God. 

Protestants claim to be the children, not of 
Agar, the bond woman, who is in bondage with 
her children, but the children of the free woman 



352 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

and heirs of the promise made to Abraham, the 
father of the faithful. Thus much for the mater- 
nity of the scarlet-robed woman and the headship 
of the pope. A carnal head, however, is good 
enough for a carnal body. No one can seriously 
object to the pope's being the head of the brother- 
hood over which he presides, but, for the sake of 
common sense and the honor of Christ, let us have 
a spiritual head for a spiritual body, and let that 
head be Christ ; and so he is declared to be " the 
Head of all things to the Church" and, as this is 
true, there is neither need of nor room for any 
other head. Compared with the Headship of Je- 
sus Christ, the great Creator and glorious Saviour, 
the headship of popes is not only most insignificant, 
but utterly contemptible. 

The papacy also claims infallibility. With re- 
gard to this point Roman Catholics themselves 
have not been agreed. All, we believe, have ad- 
mitted that it exists somewhere among them, but 
where has been the "bone of contention." Whether 
it resides in the pope, or in a general council, or 
in a general council and the pope conjointly, has 
not been determined. This infallibly proves the 
fallibility of their Church ; otherwise, they would 
know where to locate the infallibility. 

There is no infallibility outside of the word of 
God, nor is it dependent upon popes, priests, or 
councils for its interpretation. " If any man lack 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 353 

wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all lib- 
erally;" and " If any man will do his will, he shall 
know of the doctrine whether it be of God." And 
the citizens of Berea were said to be "more noble 
than those of Thessalonica, in that they received 
the word with all readiness of mind, and searched 
the Scriptures daily whether those things were so." 
Upon this subject Jesus Christ and the Pope of 
Rome are squarely at issue. Jesus says, " Search 
the Scriptures : in them ye think ye have eternal 
life." The pope says, Ye shall not search the 
Scriptures, as to do so might endanger your eter- 
nal life. And it is notorious that the popes of 
Rome have interdicted the reading of the Script- 
ures by the common people, and thus have taken 
from them " the key of knowledge," and shut them 
out in ignorance and superstition. This, however, 
is excellent policy, according to the ethics of 
Romanism, since the more ignorant the common 
masses the more easily they are gulled — -just as 
a juggler is more successful in playing off his 
tricks upon a stupid, illiterate crowd than upon 
one of intelligence. Verily, "the children of the 
world are wiser in their generation than the chil- 
dren of light." 

If the Romish hierarchy is symbolized by the 
little horn of Daniel's vision, and by Babylon 
and Sodom, and the woman clothed in purple and 
scarlet, the mother of harlots, drunk with the 



354 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

blood of the saints, as seen in the vision by the 
prophet of Patuios, and if the Apostle Paul had 
his eye upon this Romish apostasy (as the most 
enlightened and pious Protestant theologians be- 
lieve) when he speaks of " the man of sin, the 
mystery of iniquity" we cannot conscientiously as- 
sign it any place within the pale of the true Church 
of Christ, much less as the only true Church, to 
the exclusion of all others. This may subject us 
to the charge of a want of Christian charity. 
Can the mantle of Christian charity be thrown 
over Nero, Judas, Simon Magus? Then, may it 
cover a woman, the mother of harlots, drunk with 
the blood of the saints — "the mystery of iniquity," 
"the man of sin whose coming is after the work- 
ing of Satan with all power, and signs, and lying 
wonders; with all deceivableness of unrighteous- 
ness in them that perish." We trust this will ex- 
onerate us from the charge. But the days of the 
papacy are well-nigh numbered ; shorn of his sec- 
ular power and straitened on every side, his holi- 
ness is growing restless in his seat; kings and 
potentates no longer tremble upon their thrones 
at the thunders of the Vatican — no longer can he 
kick their crowns from their heads with his holy 
foot ; neither Austria, Spain, nor Italy will now 
kneel to kiss his sacred slipper. His strongholds 
of power and influence one by one have been de- 
molished ; with painful anxiety he is doubtless 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 355 

now casting about him for a place of refuge. His 
last hope is thought to be the United States ; at 
this point the mystery of iniquity is hard at work. 
He thinks, no doubt, this is a propitious time ; the 
foundations of society have been disturbed and 
loosened, and the worst elements are floating to 
the surface. His vassals, by thousands, are swarm- 
ing throughout our country; they bring with them 
all the vice, superstition, ignorance, and antichris- 
tian intolerance of a spurious, corrupt, and debas- 
ing religion. Add to these the many thousands 
that' they educate in their schools, not only the 
children of their own people, but those of Protest- 
ants, many of whom are imprudent and silly 
enough to patronize them ; this is nourishing a 
viper in their own bosoms. And besides this, 
there is a ^lass — the colored race — recently thrown 
upon the surface of American society, which fur- 
nish good material for them to work upon ; igno- 
rant, and naturally inclined to superstition, fond 
of and dazzled with external parade, pomp, and 
show, would it not be an easy matter, under a lit- 
tle Jesuitical manipulation, to manufacture them 
into good enough Roman Catholics? and more es- 
pecially since that religion, so called, lays no great 
restraints upon the carnal appetites and passions. 
There is another element now being imported from 
China which threatens erelong to deluge the coun- 
try. These heathens must either remain pagan, 



356 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

having their pagan temples and their idolatrous 
worship, or they must be' converted to Christianity; 
and what people under the canopy of heaven, 
bearing the name of Christian, so likely to perform 
this work, nominally, as Roman Catholics? Al- 
ready half pagan themselves, worshiping relics — 
canonized saints and images — they would be the 
most likely of all others to succeed in such an en- 
terprise, and at no very distant day, from all 
these resources, to swell their numbers to an ex- 
tent at once unexampled and alarming ; and let it 
not be forgotten that the almost ubiquitous and 
lynx-eyed Jesuits will not be slow in perceiving 
these advantages and seizing upon them to advance 
the power and interest of the Romish hierarchy 
in this country. 

If these forebodings are founded in reasons ob- 
vious to discerning minds, and justified by the 
known and long-practiced policy of the papal power, 
who can doubt that, now enveloped in the stifling 
smoke and thick darkness portending his ruin in 
Europe, he will make a mighty struggle to gain a 
permanent footing in America? This is the more 
evident since, if correctly informed, it is his avowed 
object, and since he is using all the means and 
prerequisites for the accomplishment of the pro- 
posed end. Additional testimony upon this grave 
subject is derived from the fact that their splendid 
cathedrals are shooting heavenward their lofty 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 357 

spires in almost all the cities and large towns, and 
their schools are springing up as by magic in all 
parts of the country. 

This fearful " man of sin" when unchecked by 
the civil arm, has freely used the potent arguments 
of the scaffold, the sword, and the fire to extermi- 
nate the followers of Christ, and would to-day re- 
peat the- same bloody tragedies had he the control 
of the secular powers and thought it his policy to 
do so ; but in this respect his power to kill is now 
curtailed — the enlightenment of the present age 
will not tolerate such sanguinary proceedings. 
But, ever fruitful in expedients, he may change 
his tactics and ply all his arts to seduce and cor- 
rupt; here lies the danger. This is an age when 
formalism is creeping upon the Church as a terri- 
ble nightmare, to stifle and destroy the spirit and 
power of godliness. This works to the interest 
of Rome. A showy, splendid worship also be- 
longs to this age. What a proud spirit of rivalry 
there is now abroad as to who shall have the most 
costly and magnificent houses of worship, in whose 
appendages and decorations and in the costly ap- 
parel of the so-called worshiping assemblies are 
exhibited all the representatives of wealth, of 
fashion, of pride, and of vainglory! External 
pomp and magnificence belonged to the typical age. 
The glory of the Jewish temple was but a type of 
the eclipsing spiritual glory of the gospel age. 



358 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

The Church of Rome, at much disadvantage, has 
compromised religion with Judaism and paganism 
until she has hardty enough even of the form of 
Christianity left to maintain the name. What she 
lacks in spirit and in truth (and we fear she lacks 
it all) she makes up in outward parade, pomp, and 
show. The Jewish temple answered its typical 
purpose, and, like its entire sisterhood of types, 
has long since been laid in the grave ; and whoever 
would disinter the buried types of Judaism, and 
intrude them into the Christian worship, makes a 
step backward, and is by so much "a Jew out- 
wardly." It has been a long time since the wor- 
shipers of God had to go to Jerusalem to attend 
the service of the temple ; and there being no far- 
ther need of its typical significance, it was laid in 
ruins, and, if we credit history, God will not suf- 
fer it to be rebuilt — a lesson this, perhaps, to the 
advocates of an outside pompous Christian wor- 
ship. The vine and fig-tree have superseded Jeru- 
salem and its temple, and the sincere and humble 
Christian, under the former, sends up to God from 
his heart-altar an incense holier and sweeter than 
ever arose from that of a proud Pharisaical wor- 
shiper in the temple of Solomon. 

Compared with this, bow poor religion's pride, 
In all the pomp of method and of art, 

When men display to congregations wide 
Devotion's every grace, except the heart! 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 359 

The Power, incensed, the pageant will desert, 
The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole; 

But haply, in some cottage far apart, 

May hear, well pleased, the language of the soul, 
And in his book of life the inmates poor enroll. 

There are three things externally necessary as 
accompaniments of the worship of God : decency, 
comfort, and convenience. All beyond this is use- 
less, and is not adapted to the simplicity of the 
Christian worship. When Christ was here upon 
earth he presented to the men of the world but 
few outside attractions ; it was his mighty works 
and words of spirit and life that called out the 
vast multitudes to see him and hear him, and to- 
day, if the spirit and power of Christ should fill 
the hearts of his ministers, and they should go 
forth, " in the fullness of his gospel," proclaiming 
pardon and life to a dying world, the places would 
be too strait to contain the people who would 
go out to see and to hear them. They would have 
no need of silver and gold either to give or to 
show, but, freely giving such as they have, the 
morally lame would walk, the deaf hear, the blind 
see, the dead in sin spring into life, and the poor, 
as well as the rich, would have the gospel preached 
unto them. " They that wear soft clothing are in 
kings houses." It is a poor thing to dress up 
Christ in purple and fine linen, in outward adorn- 
ments, to make him more attractive; those who 



360 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

make the experiment will get no thanks from him 
for their pains. By so much as the spirit of pride 
and vanity prevails in the Church will she en- 
deavor to show off Christ to a worldly advantage. 
This has been the carnal policy of Romanism. 
That Church so called has dressed him in so much 
purple and scarlet, and bedecked him with so 
much gold and silver, and rich jewelry, that he is 
transformed into a glittering pageant or a moral 
coxcomb for the world to wonder at, but not to 
love. The Church treads on dangerous ground 
when she leans over to the side of conformity to 
the world. But when a low-down spirit, through 
the mistake of society, is " clothed with a little 
brief authority," how soon does he begin his tyr- 
anny! The worst tyrant, either in the Church 
or the world, is the love of money. The servants 
of mammon are slaves, the servants of Grod are 
" free indeed." 

This is eminently a money-loving age. Rome 
is full to repletion with " costly merchandise." 
How much think ye that the Protestant Churches 
are to-day bartering for her wares ? Are they not 
trading off self-sacrifice for self-satisfaction, self- 
denial for self-indulgence, humility for the spirit 
of pride, u modest apparel " for " gold and silver 
and costly array," the simplicity of God's worship 
for outside pomp and show; in a word, the power 
of godliness for a lifeless formalism ? But, "Lord, 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 361 

who hath believed our report, and to whom is the 
arm of the Lord revealed?" Rowing against 
wind and tide is hard work. Public sentiment 
and fashion are great tyrants. Suppose the ques- 
tion once put to the carnal Jews should, at the 
present day, be put to large numbers of goers to 
Church, " What went ye out for to see ? A reed 
shaken with the "wind?" "No, I went to see a 
man clothed in soft raiment, whose words and man- 
ner corresponded to his raiment." " But what 
went ye out for ? " " To see a grand display of 
pride, of wealth, and of fashion, and to display 
my own." " But what went ye?" . . . " To hear 
the 'elegant' Church-music, the choir, and the or- 
gan, the disentombed types of the old dispensa- 
tion." "And did the soft man say 6 serpents ' — 
6 generation of vipers' ?" "Not he — he was afraid ; 
he would have lost his place and his salary." Last 
of all, " What went ye for ? " " To hear the word 
of the Lord in simplicity and power." " Did you 
hear it?" "No." "What, then?" "A dry, 
sapless, soft moral essay of thirty minutes' length, 
and then off to dinner." This, we suppose, is the 
fashion of the times, and fashion is a great tyrant, 
and a great sorceress. But all are not Israel that 
are of Israel ; neither are all members of the spir- 
itual body of Christ whose names are enrolled in 
the visible Church-records. 

We confess we have diverged a little from the 
16 



362 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

course suggested by the heading of this Part, 
but it was for the purpose of placing the Church 
of Christ in her true attitude, and to clear her 
from the scandal and ignominy occasioned by her 
spurious membership. The Church of Christ, we 
know, is built upon the Rock, and the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it ; but unless she 
maintain her faith and good works, she will be 
cast upon the bed of affliction and sorrow. 

The Church-kingdom is a power. It is the 
greatest power upon the earth. It has its own 
peculiar sphere in which it should ever display its 
activities. This sphere is spiritual, not carnal ; 
moral, not political ; and by so much as the 
Church-power is prostituted and brought to act 
outside of its spiritual sphere, is Christ contra- 
dicted when he says, " My kingdom is not of this 
world." Paul says, " The weapons of our war- 
fare are not carnal," and " we wrestle, not against 
flesh and blood, but against principalities and pow- 
ers, against the rulers of the darkness of this 
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." 
This gives a clear view of the nature of this great 
Church-power — of the sphere of its action, and 
the objects against which the forces are directed. 
The carnal or secular powers of earth aim to lop 
off the branches of evil; the power of the Church- 
kingdom strikes at the root, aiming at its eradica- 
tion. 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 363 

From this stand-point we have a distinct view 
of the two departments — the secular and moral, 
the civil and religious, the carnal and spiritual. 
Call them by what you will, they are separate 
and distinct departments. The one, by the divine 
permission, is an institution of man; the other, 
wholly of God. In the one are wielded carnal 
forces, in the other spiritual ; the one directs its 
forces to the outward man, the other to the in- 
ward ; the one seeks to neutralize the poison of 
the stream, the other to purify and cleanse the 
fountain. Herein is the latter immensely superior 
to the former, which can reach no farther than 
men's outward actions, to restrain and correct 
which is the ultimate object of all human laws. 
But the religion of Christ, or the spiritual forces 
abroad in the Church, change the heart, purify 
man's corrupt nature, give a new disposition and 
bent of mind, and thus superinduce a new course 
of outward life. Human governments can never 
supersede Christ's spiritual Church-kingdom. 

The utmost they can do is, through the feat of 
penal sanctions, to restrain the passions of men 
and keep them within such bounds as to prevent 
society from becoming altogether intolerable. And 
it is much to be doubted whether this could be 
done in the absence of the moral forces of the 
kingdom of Christ. Indeed, we are ready to af- 
firm that it could not. setting aside the power of 



364 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

divine truth, the influences of the Holy Spirit. 
Take away the reward of virtue, and the punish- 
ment of crime in a future life ; blot out heaven, 
and extinguish the fires of hell, and the anchor- 
line severed, conscience would swing from its 
mooring, and mankind, without chart or compass, 
would be driven, under the fierce winds of their 
passions, into the whirlpool of universal destruc- 
tion. The type of this may be found in the 
doomed Cities of the Plain, and the God-forsaken 
world that perished by water. 

The powers of the Church-kingdom are des- 
tined, not violently by force of carnal weapons, 
but by moral agencies, to supersede all human 
governments. "When mankind in their inner heart- 
nature shall be renewed, when love to God and 
man shall reign supreme, when the prophet's vis- 
ion of the new heavens and the new earth shall 
be fulfilled, then shall the "meek inherit the 
earth •" " then shall the kingdom and the great- 
ness of the kingdom under the whole heaven be 
given to the people of the saints," and they shall 
live and reign with Christ. Then all will do unto 
others as they would that others should do unto 
them. All carnal or secular rule and authority 
being superseded, now cease. The thrones of 
human tyrants are now vacated and "cast down;" 
halls of legislation closed, the cumbrous libraries 
of law left to m older and decay, the doors and 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 365 

gates of jails and State prisons flung open, or 
locked up without inmates ; no crime, no punish- 
ment. The great Restorer, the second Adam, has 
now fulfilled the original destiny of the first. He 
has safely conducted the earth and all united to 
him to their happy and glorious development. 
The former things are passed away; the great 
" restitution " is come ; and in due time the earth, 
emerging from the purifying fires, stands forth in 
all its rejuvenated beauty and glory. The air, no 
longer the storehouse of noxious vapors, is redo- 
lent of healthful breezes. The harmony of earth 
accords with the music of heaven. Universal 
love reigns transcendent. " There shall be no 
more war;" its temple is shut, and the earth- 
covering wing of peace drops heavenly balm on 
every soul. " The tabernacle of God is with 
men ;" and as the sound of many waters, the ten 
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of 
thousands of the redeemed ring out their hallelu- 
jahs. " Now is salvation come ;" hallelujah ! 
"The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." This is 
the Church's final triumph. May we all be there 
to see! 

The Gospel Ministry and its Divine Appoint- 
ment. 

We deem it unnecessary to enlarge upon this 
subject. All denominations claiming to be Chris- 



366 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

tian admit the establishment of this office by 
Christ, the great Head of the Church. Under 
every dispensation we find in the Church of God 
this office, or its equivalent — the prophets in the 
patriarchal ages, and the prophets and priests of 
the dispensation of Judaism. 

Setting aside the prediction of future events 
upon the part of the prophets and the ceremonial 
services of the Jewish priesthood, the holy office 
of the ministry is substantially the same in all 
ages. And why should it not be, since human 
nature, and the nature of true religion, and of 
Christ's kingdom, has never changed. 

God has had his ministers in every age. A 
change of dispensation neither adds to the inher- 
ent importance of religion, nor does it diminish it. 
And since the beginning, Deity, in his infinite wis- 
dom, has seen proper to have in his Church a 
ministry as one of the most efficient agencies in 
pulling down the strongholds of Satan, and in ad- 
vancing the high interests of his divine kingdom. 
The duties and responsibilities of this ministry are 
great indeed. The false, uncalled prophets, who 
handled the word of God deceitfully, were de- 
nounced and awfully cursed. So were the priests 
who failed to discharge the duties of their office. 

The ministerial office, in every age and stage of 
the Church, is of divine appointment. No true 
prophet, no lawful priest, was ever self-appointed. 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 367 

The appointing power resided in God, and he only 
could of right exercise it. Most fearful judg- 
ments are threatened against the false prophets in 
the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. They prophe- 
sied " peace to the people when there was no 
peace," and said that " no evil shall come upon 
you." But God said of them, " I have not sent 
these prophets, yet they ran ; I have not spoken 
to them, yet they prophesied." They are de- 
nounced in the bitterest terms : " Wherefore their 
way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the 
darkness ;" and, " Behold, I will feed them with 
wormwood, and make them drink the water of 
gall." Are there not many of the present day 
who even deny the doctrine of an internal call to 
the work of the ministry by the Holy Spirit, who 
nevertheless arrogate to themselves the sacred 
office ? All such must of necessity be placed 
upon the list of the self-appointed, false prophets 
of old, and with the seven sons of Sceva, a Jew- 
ish chief priest, who took upon themselves in the 
name of Jesus " whom Paul preached " to cast 
out a devil without divine authority; but the 
devil, with defiant tone, replied, " Jesus I know, 
and Paul I know, but who are ye ? " Even the 
demons themselves know that such men are not 
called, and seem not to acknowledge their author- 
ity nor dread their power. 

None will deny that all the duties common to 



368 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

all Christians are binding also upon the gospel 
ministry; but there are obligations resting upon 
the ministry not common to all Christians. It is 
their duty to " preach the word," to administer 
the ordinances, and to take the spiritual oversight 
of the Church; and it is their duty also to avail 
themselves of all the means within their reach, 
that they may be qualified for the proper dis- 
charge of the duties of the sacred office. Now, 
as the Church has no power or authority to create 
duties and impose them upon individuals extra of 
those enjoined in the Scriptures, and which apply 
in common to all Christians, she could not lay 
upon any particular member the important duties 
and weighty responsibilities of the ministerial 
office. Under no dispensation did the Church 
create the office of either priest or prophet ; God 
only did. He appointed in and for the Church 
the ministerial office ; and as the Scriptures no- 
where point out specially any particular persons 
whose duty it is to officiate as ministers of the 
gospel, so the Church, were she disposed to under- 
take it, would be utterly at a loss to know upon 
what particular members to impose such para- 
mount obligations. When Judas fell by trans- 
gression, the apostles did not assume the power 
and wisdom to appoint another in his stead, but 
in the most solemn manner appealed to God, who 
knew the hearts of all men, to make known to 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 369 

them the one whom he had selected to fill the 
place of Judas. In this case there are three im- 
portant particulars : first, a clear acknowledgment 
of their ignorance as to the proper person to fill 
the sacred office. Secondly, the necessity of a 
knowledge of the hearts of men as a qualification 
of the appointing power. Thirdly, a clear recog- 
nition of this as belonging to God only. Then, 
first, if they knew which of the two disciples, 
Justus and Matthias, whom they presented, was 
the proper person to fill the place of Judas, why 
appeal to God to show them? No other reason 
can be given than that of their ignorance upon 
this subject; and this was a sufficient reason to 
restrain them from assuming the appointing power. 
And as to the two brethren themselves — though 
both had been with Jesus all the time from the bap- 
tism of John, and had witnessed his resurrection 
— instead of arrogating to themselves the office in 
question, as many modern would-be-thought min- 
isters of the gospel do, they were entirely sub- 
missive and passive. But one of them must be 
chosen to fill the now vacant place of the fallen 
traitor, and they know not which. They know 
their persons, their outward demeanor, and what 
might appear to them their comparative qualifica- 
tions for the sacred office. Why, then, do the 
eleven not proceed to make the solemn election ? 
Ah, there is one species of knowledge they do 
16* 



370 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

not possess, and that is the knowledge of the heart. 
God only did, and therefore they appealed to him. 
Here, then, secondly, is a clear evidence that they 
believed the knowledge of the hearts of men was 
an indispensable qualification to make the impor- 
tant appointment. "And they prayed, and said, 
Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, 
shew whether of these two thou hast chosen." 
God did choose Matthias. He had a preference, 
and that preference was founded upon something 
in Matthias which the apostles did not, could not, 
know. God only did, because he only knows the 
heart. This heart-knowledge, thirdly, is clearly 
recognized by them as necessary to the high pre- 
rogative of choosing men for the sacred and re- 
sponsible office of the gospel ministry. And if 
this heart-knowledge is indispensable to this pre- 
rogative, and none possess it but God alone, it 
therefore follows that he alone has the preroga- 
tive of choosing his ministry. This conclusion is 
unavoidable, unless it can be shown that the 
knowledge of the heart has been dispensed with 
as a qualification of the power of choosing or ap- 
pointing men to this office ; and farther, that God 
has laid down this prerogative since the days of 
the prophets and apostles, and committed it to the 
hands of ignorant men. This certainly cannot be 
done, and the more especially can it not be done 
in the face of the " Woe is unto me, if I preach not 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 371 

the gospel!" and "Let no man take this honor to 
himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron," 
and in spite of the great facts that God is un- 
changeable, religion the same in all ages, the min- 
isterial office as elevated and responsible now as 
ever, souls of men worth as much, heaven as glo- 
rious and hell as intolerable now as in the days of 
the prophets and apostles. Until these facts of 
supreme importance shall be negatived, and Script- 
ure warrant shall be produced showing that the 
heart-knowing God has surrendered his prerogative 
of making his own selections for the ministerial 
office, we must believe the doctrine of a divine 
call to the work of the ministry. 

It has ever been the usage of earthly potentates 
to select and appoint the high officials to fill the 
offices which they themselves have created ; so 
especially with regard to embassadors and minis- 
ters commissioned and sent to foreign nations. 
Those potentates would not trust the appointment 
of their high functionaries to any subordinate au- 
thority, and for the good reason that such subor- 
dinate authority would not be competent to make 
so judicious a choice as would the supreme author- 
ity itself. Hence, the prerogative of appointing 
the suitable persons to these responsibilities and 
duties is retained and executed by the poAvers that 
instituted the office. This, it must be conceded 
by all, is a wise and prudent course ; no one ob- 



372 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

jects, or can object, to it upon reasonable grounds. 
Why, then, should any object to a similar course 
upon the part of the King and Head of Zion ? 
He instituted the office of the gospel ministry, 
and why should he not have the exclusive author- 
ity, as possessing all-heart knowledge, to appoint 
and commission the proper persons to fill that 
office ? or shall it be thought that he, possessing 
infinite knowledge, acting with less prudence and 
discretion than fallible monarchs of. earth, has sur- 
rendered this prerogative into the hands of short- 
sighted men ? We cannot reasonably suppose it. 
Now, let us hear the Apostle Paul: "Now then 
we are embassadors for Christ, as though God did 
beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, 
be ye reconciled to God." The case is here fully 
made out; Paul and others are embassadors for 
Christ. What is true of Paul is true also of the 
other apostles ; they w T ere called of God. They 
were commissioned by whom ? — the Church ? 
Nay, but by the high court of heaven. Paul, af-" 
ter his conversion, held no conference with flesh 
and blood — none with the apostles and the Church 
at Jerusalem — but forthwith preached Christ to 
the Gentiles and in the synagogues. It is easily 
seen where Paul received his commission to preach 
the gospel. All true ministers are embassadors 
for Christ ; they are commissioned to negotiate a 
peace between God and this revolted, rebellious 



THE CHURCH OP CHRIST. 373 

world ; having received from the Supreme Author- 
ity the "word of reconciliation," they proclaim the 
terms of peace ; they pray sinners " in Christ's 
stead to be reconciled to God." 

The duties and responsibilities of this office are 
such that the Church dare not impose them upon 
any particular member, unless he himself, like 
Paul, feel that "necessity is laid upon him," and 
from a conscious sense of duty can exclaim, "Woe 
is unto me, if I preach not the gospel ! " In the first 
place, it would be a question impossible for the 
Church to solve whom to appoint as an embassador 
for Christ; or if a choice should be made, the in- 
dividual so chosen might not feel it his duty to 
accept — to do so might, in his estimation, too much 
conflict with his worldly interest; or he might 
shrink from the paramount duties of the office, or 
conclude that the Church had erred in selecting 
Mm; and in the absence of the terrible " Woe is unto 
me, if I preach not!" and with the awful denuncia- 
tions against the unsent prophets staring him in 
the face, perhaps nine out of ten would decline 
acceptance. There might, however, be found now 
and then a willing subject; men filled with self- 
conceit, having a high appreciation of their own 
abilities, and more especially if large salaries could 
be secured, might, and no doubt would, respond 
to the call of the Church. Such characters would 
the more likely be found among those who, though 



374 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

wearing the name of Christian, ignore the direct 
and independent agency of the Holy Spirit upon 
the human mind, and have reduced religion to ex- 
ternal observances and actions; such self-styled 
Christians deny the doctrine of a call to the min- 
istry by the operations of the Spirit moving them 
to seek that holy office. All such preachers are, 
by self-confession, uncalled and unsent of God, 
and are arrogant intruders upon that high and 
sacred office, and belong to the class of false 
prophets, or self-appointed embassadors for Christ. 
In the hands and under the leadership of such a 
ministry the Church would soon become secular, 
lose her moral power, and sink into decay and dis- 
grace. Such men, while the loaves and fishes 
were abundant and religion popular with the world, 
might continue, after their fashion, to preach; but 
should times change, and the very name of Chris- 
tian become odious, salaries meager, with the hot 
breath of persecution sweeping over the Church, 
how long would such preachers last? Under such 
circumstances they would leave the walls of Zion, 
slink away and hide themselves, or seek employ- 
ment more lucrative and less dangerous ; and un- 
less there should be found men deeply impressed 
by the Holy Spirit with the "word of God as fire 
shut up in their bones," feeling as deep as the 
roots of life " Woe is unto me, if I preach not the 
gospel!" there would be none to warn the wicked 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 375 

or to break the bread of life to the afflicted chil- 
dren of God. 

The appointment of one of the disciples in the 
place of Judas to the ministry and apostleship de- 
serves special attention. Having put two of their 
fellow-disciples in nomination, the apostles did not 
proceed to elect one of them, as they certainly 
would have done had it been their prerogative to 
do so, and had there been no other qualification 
than what was tangible to them and under their 
own recognition. Both of these disciples had 
"companied with them and with Jesus from his 
baptism to his ascension," and were equally quali- 
fied as witnesses of his resurrection and of the 
miracles he had performed. So far they are both 
qualified for the apostleship. Judas has fallen, 
and one of these must fill his place. All things 
are ready: the eleven apostles are together; the 
two brethren are present — either of them would, 
so far as the apostles can see, do well to take part 
with them in their ministry. " Shall we make the 
choice? No." Why not? "It is not our busi- 
ness ; it is the prerogative of God to choose his 
ministers — he has always exercised it, and never 
has surrendered it. There is upon our part a rad- 
ical deficiency of qualification ; we do not know 
their hearts — God only does; and, for this reason, 
he only, and not we, can of his own right choose 
his ministers; and all we have to do is to ascertain 



376 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the choice he has already made, and for this let us 
devoutly pray." The prayer: "And they prayed, 
and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts 
of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast 
chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and 
apostleship, from which Judas by transgression 
fell, that he might go to his own place." In this 
highly interesting concern let it be observed that 
God took action first. He had already made choice ; 
so reads the prayer. The apostles pray to be 
shown which one ; the answer of God was, Mat- 
thias. They then numbered him with the eleven. 
In this transaction there is a brief, but fair, repre- 
sentation of the respective parts taken by Deity 
and by the Church in bringing men into the minis- 
try; and the Church would do well ever to follow 
the apostolic example set in their proceedings in 
the case just considered. 

In this momentous business let God be first. 
Has he chosen ? has he by his Spirit moved the 
man to seek the holy office? Here prayer by the 
Church is by no means out of place; and when, 
after sufficient trial, having " good report " and be- 
ing " apt to teach," the Church becomes satisfied, 
whatever may be the peculiar forms of induction, 
let him be admitted and " numbered with the min- 
istry." 

It is incontrovertible that God's ministers in all 
preceding dispensations were divinely called by 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 377 

him, and this authority he exercised also in the 
beginning of the new. This fact, together with 
the arguments already advanced, ought, we think, 
to be sufficient to satisfy any unbiased, candid 
mind ; but were additional proof necessary, it might 
be found in Christ's promise to his first standard- 
bearers, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the 
end of the world." This promise certainly includes 
a succession of ministers to the end of time; but 
it is equally certain that it does not embrace any 
who are not called and sent of God, as were the 
apostles. Instead of sharing in the strength and 
comfort of this promise, God says of such, "I am 
against them," "They shall not profit the people," 
"Their way shall be unto them as slippery ways 
in the darkness," and "Behold, I will feed them 
with wormwood, and make them drink the water 
of gall." Such wood, hay, and stubble builders 
are doomed to witness the burning of their w T orks, 
if they, too, are not burned w T ith fire unquenchable. 
In regard to this promise of Christ to his min- 
isters, it may be farther observed that it would not 
apply to nor embrace an unconverted man who 
had intruded himself or had been intruded by 
others upon the ministerial office. This is clearly 
evident, and to give the promise a sound interpre- 
tation, we must take the apostles as the first of 
the series of called and accredited ministers under 
the new institution, and these first ministers as 



378 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the type, or representatives, of all the succeeding 
series of ministers, converted and in like manner 
called to be embassadors for Christ. To such, and 
to no others, does the promise apply, and to the 
hearts of such has it brought strength and sweet 
comfort in prisons, in the fires, and upon the scaf- 
folds of martyrdom. 

It is sometimes asked, by way of caviling, if a 
man professing to be called of God to the work of 
the ministry should not, like the apostles, perform 
miracles in proof of his mission. If we must an- 
swer this silly question, we say, No — first, because 
they were not called, primarily, to work miracles. 
Paul declares that Christ sent Mm to preach the 
gospel, and miracles were only secondary to the 
office ; they were superhuman signs and wonders 
to attest the truth of the new revelations made by 
Christ and his apostles. But after plenary evi- 
dence was given miraculous works were not farther 
necessary, and therefore ceased ; and as ministers 
thereafter called of God to preach the gospel did 
not, and do not now, profess to make any new 
revelations, but only to preach what is already re- 
vealed, none have the right to require of them 
miracles to prove their heavenly calling. A man 
called of God to preach is not, necessarily, endued 
with miraculous gifts. The forerunner, John, was 
called of God, but he wrought no miracles; nor 
was his divine calling questioned on that account. 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 379 

Thus, the objection contained in the above ques- 
tion is shown to be futile — groundless. 

Is it inquired, How does the Holy Spirit call 
men to the work of the ministry? It would have 
been enough for Nicodemus to have put this ques- 
tion ; but, since it has been propounded, we answer, 
Certainly not by visible signs or miracles — not 
with an audible voice — but " by my Spirit, saith 
the Lord," by the same Spirit of whom men "must 
be born again," or never see the kingdom of God. 
He is the prime agent in this important concern; 
his action is first, whatever instrumentalities may 
be subsequently employed. He makes an impres- 
sion upon the mind — infixes it in the soul, so that 
the impression assumes the nature of a conviction 
of duty and allies itself to the conscience. The 
Holy Spirit may, and doubtless does, make use of 
portions of the written word to deepen these con- 
victions and to bring about obedience — such pas- 
sages as the following : "A dispensation of the gos- 
pel is committed unto me ; yea, woe is unto me, if I 
preach not the gospel ! " this terrible woe! It 
seems, sometimes, to hang over him like the sword 
of Damocles. The providence of God may also 
be brought in. Upon a persistent refusal to obey, 
his worldly prospects may be blasted ; afflictions 
of body may come upon him, darkness fill his soul, 
the comforts of religion in a great measure depart, 
and he may spend days of disquietude and restless 



380 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

and sleepless nights. What shall he do ? He is 
quite fruitful in excuses : he is too young and in- 
experienced, or too far advanced in life ; of all his 
father's house he is the least. The duties and re- 
sponsibilities of the sacred office are of such mag- 
nitude they appear overwhelming. Who is suffi- 
cient for these things? His eyes are sometimes 
so opened that he seems to see multitudes of sin- 
ners on the broad way to hell; the conviction 
comes, like the whirlwind to the patriarch of Uz, 
that he should lift up his voice and warn them. 
It is a fearful thing to see the sword coming and 
not give the alarm. He resolves and breaks his 
resolution — promises and fails to perform; often 
is he like a ship far out at sea, under heavy weather, 
without rudder or compass, or like Jonah, while 
the tempest of divine wrath threatens eternal ruin, 
he is asleep in the side of the vessel, or at the 
bottom of the deep, with the sea-weeds wrapped 
around him. But though he try to flee from the 
Lord, he will search him out, for he has " laid ne- 
cessity upon him," and in the midst of surround- 
ing darkness the only path of light that opens to 
his vision is in the discharge of this important 
duty; and it may be, after eating much of the 
bread of affliction, he surrenders, makes the trial, 
and God helps him. The cloud parts, light comes 
into his soul — in his words the flock of Christ 
recognize the voice of their Shepherd. The 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 381 

Church is edified and blessed with a minister of 
God's own choosing, and the wicked with & 
preacher who will faithfully warn them. 

The Church also takes part in bringing men into 
the ministry. Her action, however, should always 
be secondary. The transactions of the Church 
are all of an external nature : it is declarative or 
approbative, sanctioning, and, as it were, opening 
a door and giving full scope for the usefulness of 
such ministers — in a word, as did the apostles with 
Matthias, they are numbered outwardly or in- 
ducted into the sacred office. 

The Church, by her acts, cannot bind the con- 
science. The necessity and "woe" that Paul 
speaks of did not depend upon any act or acts of 
the Church. The necessity, or obligation, w T as 
laid upon him by the Almighty, and the "woe" 
the penalty to be inflicted upon disobedience. The 
necessity, or obligation, bound his conscience. 
Willing obedience secures a reward, willful neglect 
brings down the penalty. It is a fearful thing to 
disobey God. Young man, whoever you be, has 
God, for Christ's sake, pardoned your sins? and 
are you laboring under serious impressions to warn 
the wicked to flee the wrath to come ? be care- 
ful how you carry yourself in this momentous 
concern ; let not your skirts be stained with the 
blood of souls. Rather than this, forsake all 
earthly goods and enjoyments, the nearest and 



382 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

dearest, and go into the streets and lanes,, high- 
ways and hedges, and call in sinners to the gospel 
feast. You can at least say, " Come, for all things 
are now ready." These are degenerate times. 
Formalism, pride, and vanity threaten the Church 
with disastrous consequences. The incalculable 
value of souls does not now press with the w T eight 
upon the hearts and souls of professed Christians 
as it should and as it once did. But little is now 
said by them to the ungodly concerning their eter- 
nal interests. There are of the ministry but few, 
perhaps, imbued " with the spirit and pow T er of 
Elijah," or who come and go "in the fullness of 
the gospel of Christ." The great masses of the 
people are going headlong down to perdition. If 
you are called of God, tarry not; swiftly time 
passes. The Church needs your sendees ; the 
awfully perilous condition of sinners loudly calls 
to you to raise your warning voice; and if through 
your instrumentality but one soul should be saved 
from endless ruin, you shall have a star in your 
crown, and cause much joy in heaven. 

Baptism and the Lord's-supper. 

These are the only divinely-appointed ordinances 
of the gospel Church. The rites and ceremonies 
of the Jewish institution were numerous and bur-, 
densome, which was, as the Apostle Peter de- 
clared to the Jew 7 s on the day of Pentecost, a 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 383 

yoke which neither they nor their fathers were 
able to bear. But as that entire ritual service, en- 
joined by the ceremonial law, was typical of "bet- 
ter things to come," under a new and more glori- 
ous dispensation, and since those types and shad- 
ows have met their realization in Christ and his 
gospel kingdom, there is no farther use for them ; 
they have fulfilled their mission and passed away. 
Such were the many sacrificial offerings of beasts 
and birds, together with all those ablutions and 
purifications Enjoined by the Mosaic law. These, 
with all other rites and ceremonies belonging to 
the Jewish economy were, by the Apostle Paul, 
styled " carnal," or fleshly, " ordinances imposed 
upon them until the times of reformation." The 
divine Saviour has seen proper to establish but 
two ordinances in his Church-kingdom, baptism 
and the sacred supper. This renders his worship 
much more simple and far less burdensome. Hence, 
he says, his " yoke is easy and his burden light." 
These two ordinances are in the place of two of 
the former dispensation — circumcision and the 
passover. In this procedure of the Saviour there 
may be discovered profound wisdom of design, 
since circumcision in the flesh was a sign of, and 
had special reference to, the inw T ard spiritual cir- 
cumcision, or change of heart, and the lamb slain 
for the passover pointed directly to "Christ our 
passover, slain for us," through whose death this 



384 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

spiritual circumcision is procured. Hence, from 
this stand-point, it* appears that these two ordi- 
nances were the embodiment of the whole Jewish 
ritual. In the mind of the apostle, they appear 
to have held preeminence over all the other ordi- 
nances — the one as setting forth the divine spirit- 
ual change of the heart, the other as most forcibly 
directing the mind to Christ as a " Lamb slain for 
us from the foundation of the world." A refer- 
ence to the Scriptures, we think, will justify our 
remarks upon this subject. The prophet exhorts 
the rebellious Jews, Jer. iv. 4 : " Circumcise your- 
selves to the Lord, . . . lest my fury come forth 
like fire, and burn that none can quench it, be- 
cause of the evil of your doings." It was the 
token of the covenant God made with Abraham. 
(See Gen. xvii. 10, 11.) Also it imposed an obli- 
gation to comply with the law, Gal v. 3 : " For I 
testify again to every man that is .circumcised, 
that he is a debtor to do the whole law. The 
same apostle shows most clearly the spiritual sig- 
nificance of this ordinance when he says, Rom. ii. 
28, 29 : " For he is not a Jew, which is one out- 
wardly; neither is that circumcision, which is out- 
ward in the flesh : but he is a Jew, which is one 
inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, 
in the spirit, and not in the letter." 

Now let it be noted that all the outward ablu- 
tions, cleansings, and purifications of the cere- 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 385 

monial institution were made binding by circum- 
cision, as is affirmed by Paul ; and they bore an 
allusion to the spiritual purifying of the heart 
which circumcision, in an eminent sense, signified ; 
and similar remarks may be made with regard to 
the passover. 

For the celebration of this ordinance a lamb 
unblemished was slain. In reference to this, 
Christ is* declared as a "Lamb slain from the 
foundation of the world." John, his harbinger, 
pointing to him, said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." 
Paul says he was offered to God as a lamb with- 
out spot, evidently alluding to the passover lamb 
which was to be " without blemish." Also John, 
in Revelation, heard the worshiping hosts cry, 
" Worthy is the Lamb," and saw the unnumbered 
multitude who had " Avashed their robes and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb." Here, 
let it be remarked, the blood of the Lamb is 
the procuring cause of the circumcision or purify- 
ing of the heart by the Holy Spirit. And as the 
shedding of the blood of Christ in atoning for sin 
and the purification of the heart by the Holy 
Ghost giving a qualification for heaven, summarily 
comprehend the whole economy of grace, so the 
passover and circumcision, the great prototypes of 
the atonement and regeneration, summarily compre- 
hended the entire ceremonial institution ; for all the 
sacrificial offerings of that institution were but an 



386 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

expansion or amplification of the passover, and 
the outward cleansings and purifications were the 
same with respect to circumcision. For illustra- 
tion, the first and great commandment to love God 
with all the heart is amplified into the precepts 
contained in the first table of the decalogue. The 
second, "like unto it," enjoining love to our neigh- 
bor, is drawn out into the precepts of the second 
table. So all the precepts of the decalogue, or 
moral law, are embodied in the two original com- 
mands. In like manner were all the sacrificial 
offerings and typical purifications embodied in the 
original ordinances, the passover and circumcision ; 
the one instituted with Abraham, the other before 
the exodus from Egypt, and both belong to the 
patriarchal age. 

Now, to abolish the two first and great com- 
mandments, enjoining love to God and our neigh- 
bor, would, at the same time, abolish the ten pre- 
cepts of the moral law, since these precepts are 
potentially contained in the two original command- 
ments, and the abrogation of the latter would be 
the abolishment of the former. The foundation 
and the superstructure would all be demolished 
together. So with regard to the passover and cir- 
cumcision. Set these aside, and the whole Jewish 
typical system as a matter of course falls to the 
ground. 

From these considerations it becomes apparent 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 387 

that the institution of baptism and the Lord's- 
supper, the only external ordinances of the gos- 
pel Church, were in lieu of circumcision and the 
passover, superseding and making them void, and 
by consequence they superseded and made void 
the whole ceremonial system. Baptism and the 
supper are preeminently significant of the very 
same spiritual things which were so eminently 
signified by circumcision and the passover — the 
one, purification of the heart and qualification for 
heaven ; the other, the actual immolation of Christ 
upon the cross, the procuring cause of this quali- 
fication. 

But although the gospel ordinances were de- 
signed to supersede and abolish the old Levitical 
system, yet this was not to be effected suddenly, 
but gradually, for it was still existing in the days 
of the apostles. Paul himself, from deference to 
Jewish prejudices, was found " purified in the 
temple," and had Timothy circumcised. And 
the apostles, for the sake of peace and unity, 
seemed to compromise the matter in counseling 
the Churches to abstain from blood, from things 
strangled, from meats offered to idols, and from 
fornication. 

These Jewish prejudices, so hard to overcome, 
were, however, overruled for a wise purpose when 
we remember that while the ceremonial super- 
structure in all its parts within itself was typical, 



388 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the outward splendor of the edifice (of which the 
magnificent temple was a fair exponent) was spir- 
itually significant, shadowing forth the moral 
beauty and glory of the gospel kingdom. This 
glory became exceedingly bright before the close 
of the apostolic ministrations. The apostles had 
proclaimed the glad tidings over large portions of 
Europe and Asia, and perhaps in Africa. Pagan- 
ism fell before them as Dagon before the ark, and 
the new institution had won multitudes from su- 
perstition and idolatry to the worship of the true 
God in spirit and in truth. The glory of the gos- 
pel Church-kingdom so far excelled the external 
glory of the temple and temple service, that the 
latter " had no glory by reason of that which ex- 
celled in glory." It was reduced at last to a faint 
shadow, and the substance being fully realized, 
there was no farther need of the shadow, and so 
it passed away. About this time was wound up 
the old dispensation, giving place to the new. The 
temple at Jerusalem lies in ruins, the daily sacri- 
fice ceases, the Jews scattered to the four winds 
— types and shadows, having fulfilled their mis- 
sion, are fled and gone. Baptism and the sacred 
supper now fully set forth all that was spiritually 
comprehended in circumcision and the passover, 
viz., a new purified heart, and the sacrificial offer- 
ing of Christ. To these two cardinal points con- 
verged all the types and shadows, and in them are 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 389 

embodied all the essential principles of the Chris- 
tian religion. 

From this view of the subject, it is quite evi- 
dent that baptism and the Lord's-supper, by di- 
vine appointment, have taken the place of circum- 
cision and the passover ; and since the latter were 
adapted to a lower and less glorious dispensation, 
so the former are adapted to a higher and more 
glorious dispensation. And as these two ordi- 
nances, in their spiritual significance, embrace — 
the one the atonement, the other a purified heart 
and a qualification for heaven, in which two cardi- 
nal principles are embodied — all the essential doc- 
trines of the gospel, we clearly perceive the reason 
that Christ appointed but these two only, namely, 
there was absolutely neither need, nor, indeed, 
room, for any more. 

If farther proof were necessary to sustain the 
correctness of the position we have taken, that 
baptism has taken the place of circumcision, and 
the sacred supper that of the passover, it may be 
derived from several additional considerations. 
Here we would first premise that outward ordi- 
nances, having a spiritual meaning, are indispensa- 
ble to the proper administration of Christ's mili- 
tant kingdom. This is proven from the fact that 
such ordinances he has always appointed, and far- 
ther, that the spiritual nature of his kingdom is 
unchangeable. Then, 1. Of all the ordinances of 



390 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the Church in former dispensations, circumcision 
appears to have been the one used by the inspired 
writers, as in an eminent sense referring to an in- 
ward change of our moral nature. This ordinance 
was, therefore, indispensable to those dispensa- 
tions. But as a change of dispensation has taken 
place, so has occurred a corresponding change in 
ordinances. But still, as the spiritual nature of 
Christ's militant kingdom is unchangeable, and as 
circumcision was indispensable in former dispen- 
sations to spiritually signify an internal purifica- 
tion, it follows as a sequence that there must be 
some ordinance of the new dispensation appointed 
to spiritually signify the same thing. The ques- 
tion now is, which of the two gospel ordinances 
is it ? It cannot be the supper, for this commemo- 
rates the Saviour's death. It will follow, of course, 
that it is baptism. Hence, we are conducted to 
the inevitable conclusion that baptism was ap- 
pointed to take the place of circumcision. 2. The 
analogy which exists between baptism and cir- 
cumcision is farther apparent from the following 
considerations : Circumcision stood at the thres- 
hold of the Jewish Church, but within its pale, be- 
cause it was a Church-ordinance; so baptism 
stands at the threshold of the gospel Church, but 
within its pale, because it also is a Church-ordi- 
nance. 3. Circumcision imposed an obligation to 
perform all the duties of the Jewish institution; 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 391 

baptism lays upon its recipients an obligation to 
attend to all the duties of the gospel institution. 
4. Circumcision was a mark of distinction and 
separation between the Jewish Church and the 
unbelieving Gentile world. So is baptism a mark 
of distinction and separation between the Chris- 
tian Church and the unbelieving world. 5. Cir- 
cumcision, outwardly, did not constitute a Jew 
"inwardly" (Rom. ii. 28, 29), or a true spiritual 
heir of the promise. So neither does baptism 
make a Christian, inwardly, or a spiritual heir of 
the promise. 6. Circumcision availeth not any 
thing (to the saving of the soul), "but faith, which 
worketh by love." So neither does baptism avail 
to the saving of the soul, for Simon the sorcerer 
was baptized, but Peter pronounced him to be "in 
the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity." 

Thus, the analogy between baptism and circum- 
cision is shown to be most striking, if not perfect; 
and the former, superseding the latter, breaks down 
the " middle wall of partition " between Jew and 
Gentile, and casts from the neck that " yoke " of 
bondage under the ceremonial law, which was an 
exacting and rigid schoolmaster to bring men to 
Christ. Baptism, as an ordinance of the gospel 
Church, answers all the spiritual and administra- 
tive ends in the militant kingdom of Christ that 
circumcision did in former dispensations. Hence, 
it is next to a demonstration, and cannot leave in 



392 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the mind a reasonable doubt, that baptism, by di- 
vine appointment, has taken the place of circum- 
cision. 

A similar analogy we will trace between the 
Lord's-supper and the passover: 1. The victim to 
be slain and sacrificed in this ordinance was a 
lamb. From time immemorial the lamb has been 
considered the emblem of purity and innocence. 
The divine Saviour, whose death is remembered in 
the ordinance of the supper, was a holy and harm- 
less." 2. The paschal lamb was to be without 
blemish. Christ, in all his life and conduct, was 
pure "without spot" or stain. 3. With a bunch 
of hyssop dipped in the blood of the lamb it was 
struck upon the lintel and door-posts of the houses 
of the Hebrews in Egypt, and was to be the means 
of preserving them from the destruction which fell 
upon all the first-born of Egypt. So also is the 
blood of " Christ, our Passover," efficacious in de- 
livering all who avail themselves of its benefits 
from the awful destruction which awaits the wicked. 
4. The paschal lamb was not to be sodden in 
water, but to be " roast with fire and eaten with 
unleavened bread." So, likewise, the bread used 
in the first celebration of the Lord's-supper was 
unleavened, being a part of that made use of in 
celebrating the passover. 5. The passover was 
instituted on the fourteenth day of the first month, 
and was ordered to be observed ever afterward on 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 393 

the same day throughout their generations. The 
sacred supper was instituted on the same day of 
the same month, at the close of the passover, be- 
fore rising from the table, and our Lord required 
it to be observed as an ordinance in the Church, 
commemorative of his death, until he come. 
6. Both the passover and supper have the same 
significance. Both allude to the sacrificial offering 
of Christ ; in both the outward symbols are visi- 
ble to the eyes of the body, but their spiritual 
import is beneficially apprehended alone by faith. 
The one was a typical prediction of a Saviour to 
come, the other a symbolic announcement that it 
is fulfilled — the Saviour is come. 

Upon the analogy we have traced between the 
sacrament of the supper and the passover, and 
other considerations, the Christian world in general 
have founded their belief that the holy supper 
took the place of the passover and superseded it ; 
indeed, moral propriety and the fitness of things 
required that it should be so, since both the typi- 
cal and spiritual senses of the passover were, in a 
very short time, to be met in their full realization 
in the immolation of the Lamb of Calvary, which 
took place a few hours after the last celebration 
of this ordinance by Christ and his disciples. 
Knowing, therefore, that this ordinance had run 
its course and had fulfilled its appointed mission, 
he hastened to appoint another in its stead adapted 
17* 



394 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

to the new state of things in the development of 
a higher and more glorious dispensation. 

That the ordinance of the supper was substi- 
tuted for the passover cannot admit of a rational 
doubt, and that baptism was substituted for cir- 
cumcision is equally clear, since the evidence of 
the fact rests upon similar grounds and is equally- 
conclusive. 

We call up a proposition previously made — that 
it is indispensable to the successful administration 
of Christ's militant kingdom that there be in it 
outward ordinances having a spiritual significance. 
This can hardly be called a postulate^ or a propo- 
sition unproved, because it is proven from the fact 
that the Head of the Church has appointed such 
ordinances. 

We now inquire, What ordinance was there of 
the Jewish Church which eminently signified the 
atoning sacrifice of Christ ? Answer : the pass- 
over. What ordinance of the gospel signifies the 
same thing? That of the Lord's-supper. It is 
therefore evident that the latter took the place of 
the former. 

We also inquire, concerning the ordinance of 
baptism, Has it no spiritual allusion ? If it has 
any, what is it? Is its spiritual reference to the 
death of the Saviour? This is the express design 
of the sacred supper, for which we have Scripture 
warrant, which is wholly wanting in regard to bap- 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 395 

tism. Or was it designed to represent the burial 
and resurrection of Christ ? This would strip it 
of its spiritual value. In baptism there is, indeed, 
an emblem — that is, water. So, likewise, the 
bread and wine of the sacred supper are emblems; 
and these, simply considered, are a representation, 
literally, of Christ's body and blood. But this is 
not all : in these outward symbols there is a spir- 
itual allusion which embraces the benefits of the 
great atonement, and while the body is partaking 
of the outward emblems the soul of the worthy 
guest is, by faith, feasting upon the unsearchable 
riches of the atonement. 

In the ordinance of baptism the emblem (as all 
know) is water — such water, we mean, as God 
speaks of by the mouth of the prophet (Ezek. 
xxxvi. 25): "Then will I sprinkle clean water 
upon you, and ye shall be clean." But of what is 
the water emblematic ? and what is its spiritual 
significance ? We have already seen that baptism 
cannot represent the death of the Saviour, as this 
would make it collide with the sacrament of the 
supper; also, that it cannot represent Christ's 
burial and resurrection, since this would make bap- 
tism an emblem of outward circumstances, and 
divest it of its spiritual import. Indeed, the ordi- 
nance of the supper, in its spiritual comprehension, 
recognizes not only the simple fact of the Saviour's 
death, but also his resurrection and ascension to 



396 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

glor}' ? since a dead Saviour is not commemorated, 
but a living one. "Ye do show forth the Lord's 
death until he come." The phrase "until he come" 
by clear implication, includes his resurrection and 
ascension. 

The question now recurs, Of what is water em- 
blematic? Simply, of cleanliness — purity; but, 
when applied in baptism, there is in the emblem a 
spiritual significance which directs the mind to the 
action of the Holy Spirit in cleansing the heart 
from moral pollution, and, as before shown, bap- 
tism thus completely harmonizes in its nature and 
design with circumcision, which also, in its spirit- 
ual significance, embraced a purified heart. This, 
with Paul, was the circumcision " of the heart ; 
not in the letter, but in the spirit." 

A few additional remarks will close this subject. 
A farther insight may be had into the harmonious 
working of the two dispensations of the Church- 
kingdom. The kingdom of Christ has been the 
same in every age ; its nature is one and unalter- 
able. His throne, since its first erection, has never 
been vacated — there has i>een no interregnum ; it 
was morally and spiritually the same in the Jewish 
age that it is in the Christian age, and ever will 
be : a change in the external mode of its adminis- 
tration implies no change of its divine essential 
principles. During the prophetic and Jewish ages 
it was administered by his word and ordinances; 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 397 

in the Christian age new ordinances are appointed 
to supersede their predecessors, just as the Chris- 
tian age superseded that of the Jewish. There is 
now inaugurated a new mode of administration ; 
new ordinances are introduced, more simple, less 
burdensome, and better adapted to the new and 
happier state of things in the new age ; but still, 
as the Church-kingdom advances through the sev- 
eral stages of knowledge and glory, from infancy 
to manhood, Infinite Wisdom is ever mindful in 
every dispensation, old or new, to keep steadily 
in view the two great cardinal points in the econ- 
omy of human redemption — viz. : the atonement 
made for sin by Christ, " our Passover," and the 
purification of the heart by the Spirit in regenera- 
tion. These radical and all-comprehensive doc- 
trines are kept prominently before the eyes of 
mankind in two ways: (1) by the inspired record; 
(2) by established outward ordinances. In the 
inspired record both of these great points are abun- 
dantly taught, and in the ordinances of both the 
old and new dispensations was couched in their 
outward symbols, respectively, a spiritual idea; 
and this idea was the type of either the atonement 
by the death of Jesus Christ or of a purified 
heart by the Holy Spirit. The great facility with 
which mankind forget, or overlook, these two un- 
speakably important points of the Christian theol- 
ogy will fully vindicate the wisdom and goodness 



398 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

of the Saviour in appointing in his Church-kingdom 
external ordinances for the purpose of keeping 
them prominently in view. In regard to the ordi- 
nances of the new dispensation, though differing 
in element and mode, they are precisely the same 
.•is to their nature and design. 

The ordinances of the Old Testament Church 
consisted of two classes : (1) those which typically 
alluded to the sacrificial offering of Christ; (2) 
those which alluded to the purification of the heart. 
The first class included the altar-sacrifices, the 
second the outward cleansings and ceremonial pu- 
rifications. Those of the first class were contained 
potentially and in embryo in the passover; those 
of the second class were, in the same sense, con- 
tained in circumcision. These were the parent 
ordinances, from which issued the entire series of 
their typical offspring. These original ordinances 
were two luminous points in the Church-heavens, 
from which emanated the rays of the typical cere- 
monies directing the spiritual vision to the Victim 
of Calvary, and to a purified heart as a qualifica- 
tion for heaven. These altar-sacrifices and typical 
purifications are amplitudes of those two original 
ordinances, and by this means the light of truth 
and of the divine promises shines with greater 
brightness in the Jewish ceremonial age than it 
did in the patriarchal age. 

It is truly delightful to contemplate the harmo- 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 399 

nious working of these two ordinances. The per- 
formance of one opens the legal way of access to 
the other. The law required circumcision out- 
wardly as a qualification to partake of the passover, 
and a "Jew outwardly" might do so; but only a 
"Jew inwardly" who had been circumcised in 
"heart" could, by faith in the promised Messiah, 
appropriate to his soul that which was spiritually 
signified by the passover — namely, the atonement. 
So in like manner baptism, which occupies the 
place of circumcision, bears the same relation to 
the sacrament of the supper, which stands in the 
place of the passover. Baptism now opens the 
way to the sacred supper, and confers an external 
legal right to all who profess faith in Christ to 
participate in the Lord's-supper ; but none except 
such as not only profess faith but really possess it 
have an interior spiritual right at this holy com- 
munion, nor can any but such persons properly 
apprehend and realize the spiritual intent of either 
baptism or the sacred supper. Hence, the relation 
existing between circumcision and the passover 
finds its precise parallel in the relation existing 
between baptism and the sacred supper. This re- 
lation is of the same nature of that which subsists 
between cause and effect. The atonement by the 
death of Jesus Christ, symbolized in the sacrament 
of the supper, is the procuring cause of the puri- 
fication of the heart by the Holy Spirit ; and this 



400 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

purification of heart is the spiritual idea or signifi- 
cation of Christian baptism. The former signifi- 
cantly contains the cause, the latter, in like man- 
ner, the effect. Their close relation is clearly evi- 
dent. A word now as to their mutual dependence. 

Worthily to communicate in the feasts of the 
holy supper depends upon the realization of what 
is spiritually signified by baptism— that is, a puri- 
fied heart; and this in turn depends upon what is 
spiritually signified in the Lord's-supper— that is, 
the atonement; and this mutual dependence is 
predicated in their close relation. The same rela- 
tion and mutual dependence existed between cir- 
cumcision and the passover. 

It is worthy of thought that the transition from 
the Jewish to the Christian age was not abrupt or 
violent. There was no uprooting of the Church 
of Christ among the Jews when the gospel Church 
succeeded it. There was, indeed, a terrible ex- 
cision of diseased and decayed branches (see 
Rom. xi. 19, 20), but the stock still remained 
ready for the grafting in of new scions, not only 
of converted Jews, but also of Gentiles, styled 
" the wild olive." As before stated, the Church- 
kingdom knows no interregnum ; no vacancy, gap, 
or chasm was made in the transition. The new 
dispensation was interlinked with the old; the 
new, rejecting the rubbish and all that was inap- 
propriate, retained what was pure, and good, and 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 401 

appropriate. The change from the old to the new 
was gradually and decently accomplished. The 
"glad tidings" of the gospel kingdom were spread- 
ing abroad, while Jewish altars were yet smoking. 
While the withered branches are being severed, 
large supplies of fresh scions are brought in and 
grafted. The old and " natural " stock, pruned 
and under new culture, develops afresh its life- 
powers in the healthy and vigorous growth of the 
new branches ; and this process is continued until 
the last of the rubbish is swept away as with the 
besom of destruction by the fall of their city and 
temple, when the " daily sacrifice " ceased, as fore- 
told by the prophet. 

In accordance with the foregoing, it is well to 
observe that the institution of the new ordinances 
was not delayed till after the final extinction of 
the old, the sacrament of the supper being ap- 
pointed on the night immediately preceding Christ's 
crucifixion, and that of baptism shortly after his 
resurrection, while as yet the ceremonial service 
still continued. What profound wisdom and de- 
lightful harmony are revealed in all of this divine 
procedure ! We think the truth of the proposi- 
tion that the sacrament of the supper and that of 
baptism were substituted in the room of the pass- 
over and of circumcision, is fully sustained, not 
only as being merely reasonable, but by evidence 
which assumes the attribute of demonstration. 



402 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

In treating upon the subject of the nature and 
design of baptism and the Lord's-supper, we have 
thought proper, instead of considering them sep- 
arately, to take them along side by side together. 
This we have done because of their close and pe- 
culiar relation, not only to each other, but also to 
their correlatives, circumcision and the passover. 

Infant Church-membership. 

As Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever, so is his religion in every age. It is 
unchangeable, like himself, because it is perfect. 
The divine principles of his Church-kingdom are 
also unchangeable for the same reason, and so also 
is the required qualification for Church-member- 
ship. The correctness of the two first proposi- 
tions being granted — which none will deny — the 
truth of the third must be admitted as a matter 
of course. 

God made a covenant with Abraham, and to 
this covenant Abraham became a party through 
faith. " He believed God, and it was imputed to 
him for righteousness." He believed the promises 
God made in the covenant. These promises em- 
braced not only temporal, but also spiritual, bless- 
ings. First, the land of Canaan was promised to 
him and his descendants as their future inherit- 
ance. Secondly, he promised to be their God, and 
that in Abraham's seed should all nations be 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 403 

blessed. This seed Paul declares to be Christ, and 
in this way " the gospel was preached before unto 
Abraham." 

Here we find all the true and essential elements 
of an organized Church of Christ. A covenant, 
with its stipulated blessings conditioned upon faith. 
Abraham, with others of his family, complying 
with the condition ; the gospel preached to them 
in the promised seed — the coming Messiah — with 
the ordinances of sacrificial offerings and circum- 
cision. The first shadowed forth the one offering 
to be made by Christ to atone for sin ; the second 
signified spiritually the circumcision or purifica- 
tion of the heart by the Holy Spirit. Hence, the 
unbelieving, rebellious Jews were denounced as 
" uncircumcised in heart," and Paul says " circum- 
cision is that of the heart." It was also a "token 
of the covenant " — an external " sign and seal of 
the righteousness of faith;" and this sign and seal 
was placed not only on Abraham himself, but also 
upon his infant offspring. 

The descendants of this great patriarch con- 
sisted of two classes — first, lineal, or natural; 
secondly, spiritual. We also find the Church ex- 
isting in two senses — first, as an outward, visible 
body; and secondly, an invisible, spiritual body. 
Answering to all this we find "Jews outwardly" 
and "Jews inwardly." Hence, the apostle says, 
"He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; . . .. 



404 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly? The 
merely outward Jew was circumcised only in the 
flesh, while the Jew inwardly was circumcised in 
heart. Those who received circumcision only in 
the flesh, were members only of the outward, visi- 
ble body of the Church ; but those who were cir- 
cumcised in heart as well as in the flesh, were 
members of both the outward visible and also the 
invisible spiritual body. The natural descendants 
of Abraham were brought to the profits and ad- 
vantages of membership in the outward visible 
body through circumcision outwardly. The spir- 
itual seed of Abraham become members of Christ's 
spiritual, invisible body by faith. The latter are 
the children of Abraham, " the father of the faith- 
ful," in the highest and most important sense of 
the term. If it be inquired at what time the 
members of the outward organization of the 
Church were brought in ? the answer is, in early 
childhood, at eight days old, when, by a divine 
appointment, they were circumcised, through which 
medium they were, in a legal sense, recognized as 
members of the visible Church. 

The distinction we have drawn in regard to the 
Church as being in one sense external and visible 
to men, and in another sense spiritual and invisi- 
ble to men, and known only to God, " who know- 
eth the hearts of all men," is necessitated from 
the very facts of the case as they are presented 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 405 

in the Scriptures. For in the Church seen and 
known of men, there are tares mixed with the 
wheat, wolves in the fold in sheep's clothing, false- 
hearted, hypocritical professors. But who will 
presume to say there are any such who by the 
" one spirit are baptized into the one body, and 
are made to drink into the same spirit ? " This 
exhibits and justifies the distinction we have 
made ; and the foregoing propositions connected 
with it are so scripturally true that it is deemed 
unnecessary to adduce farther testimony. 

But should it be asked, "What profit was there 
of circumcision?" Paul shall answer, "Much every 
way; chiefly because that unto them — the Jews 
— were committed the oracles of God." The chil- 
dren enjoyed the light and instruction of the di- 
vine oracles, or word of God, along with their 
parents ; and when come to the years of discre- 
tion, they were required to believe in the promise 
of the covenant made to Abraham — that is, in 
Christ, the Saviour to come; for we are taught 
that the circumcision, or Jew, was justified by 
faith, and the uncircumcision, or Gentile, through 
faith. 

Faith was indispensable to three important 
things. First, without faith they could not become 
the true spiritual seed of Abraham and heirs of 
the covenant promise. Secondly, faith was neces- 
sary in order to the inward circumcision, or heart- 



406 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

purification. Thirdly, to membership in the invisi- 
ble, spiritual body of Christ. 

In the visible Church among the Jews there 
were many unbelievers, as in the present day 
among us ; for Paul puts the question, " What if 
some did not believe ? " And thousands of wicked, 
faithless Jews fell through unbelief, and a great 
majority of the nation, when the promised Mes- 
siah came, were unbelievers ; but still, they be- 
longed to the ostensible body, the Church of 
Christ. This is plain from the parable of the 
vineyard, which he threatened to take from them 
and let it out to others more worthy. 

Outward circumcision was typical, signifying 
the inward purifying of the heart, " not in the let- 
ter, but in the spirit ;" and contributed nothing to 
the saving of the soul, as the apostle declares, 
u neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor un- 
circumcision, but a new creature;" and in another 
place he says, "But faith which worketh by love." 
The Jews loudly boasted of their Abrahamic pa- 
ternity, and of their Church-privileges. This, in- 
deed, was a vain boasting, so long as they trusted 
in outward rites and ceremonies, and failed to be- 
lieve with the heart in the promised seed, the glo- 
rious Messiah. Paul himself, previous to his con- 
version, was one of these boasters. He says, "If 
any other man thinketh he hath whereof to glory, 
I more ; circumcised the eighth day, of the stock 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 407 

of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of 
the Hebrews ; as touching the law, a Pharisee." 
But what things he had gained he counted loss as 
to any saving efficacy. He had gained admission 
to the external privileges of the Church, and no 
doubt much knowledge of the Old Testament 
Scriptures. His mind was highly cultivated, and, 
as he tells us, he had profited much in the Jews' 
religion ; but all this he renounced as totally inca- 
pable of. saving him. But after it pleased God to 
reveal in him his Son Jesus Christ, he used the 
knowledge and advantages of his early instructions 
with telling effect, and mightily convinced the 
Jews that Jesus was the Christ. In Paul's case, 
then, we have a striking illustration of the profits 
and advantages of circumcision and Church-mem- 
bership outwardly. 

We have said that little children were admitted 
to external membership in the Church of Christ 
among the Jews. They were included with their 
parents in the covenant which God made with the 
Israelites. For proof of this, read Deut. xxix. 
9-12: "Keep therefore the words of this cove- 
nant, and do them. ... Ye stand this day all of 
you before the Lord your God ; your captains of 
your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all 
the men of Israel; your little ones, your wives, 
and thy stranger that is in thy camp ; . . . that 
thou shouldst enter into covenant with the Lord 



408 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

thy God, and into his oath which the Lord, thy 
God maketh with thee this day." And xxxi. 12, 
13 : " Gather the people together, men, and women, 
and children, and thy stranger that is within thy 
gates, that they may hear, and that they may 
learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to 
do all the words of this law; and that their chil- 
dren, which have not known any thing, may hear, 
and learn to fear the Lord your God." These, and 
many other passages, conclusively show that the 
children of the Jews were included with their par- 
ents in the Church visible among that pe.ople, and 
so regarded by Jehovah in the covenant w T hich he 
established with them, 

Circumcision, it is known and acknowledged, 
was the ordinance through which infant member- 
ship w r as legalized ; and if Christian baptism has 
come instead of, and superseded, circumcision, as 
we have previously demonstrated, it will follow, 
of course, that little children are not to be ex- 
cluded from the visible gospel Church, and so be 
deprived of the advantages of religious instruc- 
tion and training; otherwise, the Jewish dispen- 
sation excelled that of the gospel as affording 
superior light and higher privileges ; whereas, the 
truth is precisely the reverse of this. The pro- 
priety and correctness of our position will be far- 
ther substantiated when we consider, first, that 
Jesus Christ, the Head of his Church in all dis- 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 409 

pensations, is the same "yesterday, to-day, and 
forever." Secondly, the principles of his Church- 
kingdom never change. Thirdly, that the quali- 
fication for membership in his Church-kingdom 
is at all times the same. These propositions are 
next to self-evident, and none can, with any show 
of reason, deny them. What, then, is the result, 
or what necessarily follows ? It is this, that if 
little children were once divinely recognized as 
being qualified for membership in the Church, 
they are so recognized still; if they are not, then 
such qualification has changed, which would argue 
the mutability of the principles of Christ's Church- 
kingdom, and this would imply the mutability of 
Christ himself. To set aside this conclusion im- 
poses a task impossible for any to accomplish, 
namely, that little children were never, by divine 
authority, brought into the visible Church. 

The argument we have based upon the immuta- 
bility of the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, the unchangeable nature of the principles 
of his kingdom on earth, and that the qualifica- 
tion for membership in his Church-kingdom must 
of necessity be the same in every age is, we think, 
conclusive that as little children were once di- 
vinely recognized as possessing the requisite qual- 
ification for membership, so they must be in 
every age, unless, indeed, we admit that Christ 
and the nature of his kingdom, and the qualifi- 
18 



410 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

cation for membership therein, are things that 
are changeable, which would be little short of 
blasphemy. 

The above conclusion was certainly indorsed 
by the unchangeable Christ himself when he said, 
" Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
Now, in what sense could infants "come" to Christ? 
Certainly not by faith; of this they were not capa- 
ble. In no other conceivable sense can they come to 
him but by being brought by their believing par- 
ents and solemnly dedicated to him in the ordi- 
nance of baptism. This ordinance has taken the 
place of circumcision, as we have heretofore clearly 
shown. 

From these considerations it most evidently ap- 
pears that the little children of those who belong 
to the Church ought not to be overlooked and be 
deprived, through the neglect of their parents, of 
the advantages of the religious training so highly 
commended by Paul as practiced in the Church 
among the Jews. It is notorious that their chil- 
dren were, by Jehovah himself, recognized as pos- 
sessing the proper qualification for membership 
in his visible family. Has Jehovah changed ? Is 
not his kingdom, in its nature, the same in every 
age? Does he require different qualifications in 
different ages ? And if little children were once 
qualified, and by divine authority were brought 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 411 

into the Church, we demand to know by what au- 
thority they are now rejected. Certainly not by 
the authority of Christ, nor that of the apostles. 
They are rejected, then, by human, solely by hu- 
man, authority. 

Christ himself, when an infant, was brought 
into the visible Church among the Jews; and 
after he had entered upon his public ministry he 
required, in spite of the rejecters, that little chil- 
dren be suffered to come to him, declaring that 
"of such is the kingdom of heaven;" and when 
little children die, he receives them into the tri- 
umphant Church-kingdom in heaven. 

When Paul wrote his Epistle to the Church at 
Corinth, he had baptized three entire households, 
two of which are spoken of by the writer of the 
Acts of the Apostles — Lydia and her family, and 
the jailer and his ; and that of Stephanus he 
speaks of himself, and that it is highly probable 
he would not have done had it not been for the 
strife in that Church. Nor is it reasonable to sup- 
pose these three were all the households he bap- 
tized during the course of his ministry. But was 
Paul the only one of all the apostles who baptized 
households ? And if the others, as well as Paul, 
baptized households, is it not fair to conclude that 
baptized households were quite numerous ? And 
among so many, would it not be a little strange 
that there were no little children? The proba- 



412 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

bilities, then, are in favor of baptizing the chil- 
dren of believing parents. 

We are aware that it is alleged as an objection 
that the rite of circumcision by which the chil- 
dren of the Jews were legally admitted to exter- 
nal Church-membership, has been annulled and 
superseded by the gospel institution, and that, 
therefore, infant membership ceased with circum- 
cision. This objection would have some plausi- 
bility provided there had been no ordinance insti- 
tuted in its stead, and which was designed to an- 
swer a similar end ; but this, as already shown, 
we find in the ordinance of baptism. Thus, the 
objection has -no foundation, in fact. 

It is objected again that children thus brought 
into the outer court of the Church are liable to 
trust for future happiness in their early baptism 
and religious instruction without any saving knowl- 
edge of Christ in the pardon of their sins. And 
are not people now equally liable to trust in bap- 
tism and their own works of supposed righteous- 
ness, especially since baptism is by many made to 
assume such a high importance — an importance to 
which it is by no means entitled? And further- 
more, the same might have been said against the 
admission of children through circumcision, a di- 
vinely-appointed ordinance. 

From many years of observation, the writer has 
noticed that, as a general rule, those communities 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 413 

in which the little ones are dedicated to God by 
baptism, and brought more closely in contact with 
the light of religious instruction, are more orderly 
and moral; and such children, when they come 
to years, constitute the most reliable material for 
genuine revivals of religion, and when converted 
they make the more consistent Christians. 

The word of inspiration is, "Train up a child 
in the way he should go, and when he is old he 
will not depart from it." And, Christian parents, 
your prayerful instructions will not be forgotten 
by your children. Though you may not live to 
see them brought through faith to a heart-knowl- 
edge of Christ in the pardon of sin, yet your faith- 
ful admonitions, after you are dead and gone from 
them, will often visit them, check and restrain 
them from sin, and serve as a powerful influence 
to turn them to God. 

The kingdom of heaven is the same in every 
age. In its principles, like its divine founder, it 
changes not. Had the ordinance of the Church 
among the Jews been baptism instead of circum- 
cision, Christ himself, at eight days old, would 
have been admitted legally to its external "profit" 
and " advantage " by baptism. When he said, 
" Suffer little children to come unto me, and for- 
bid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven," 
he made a full recognition of their qualification, 
since whether he meant the Church-kingdom on 



414 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

earth, or the kingdom of glory, the question is set- 
tled. Then let not Christian parents stop to an- 
swer all the silly questions which objectors may 
propound, such as, "What good can it do?" or to 
listen to the vulgar slang in the phrase of u ldby 
sprinkling." Turn such cavilers over to Paul, who 
will give them the answer, "Much every way." 

Since the days of the apostles, the greater por- 
tion of the Church has practiced infant baptism. 
Gainsayers there have been, and there are yet 
gainsay ers. But let not Christian parents be bul- 
lied out of the path of their duty and privilege. 
Let them dedicate to God their tender offspring, and 
take them in their company to the house of God. 
Let them often remind them • that their baptism 
with water abstractly, cannot avail to the saving of 
the soul; that it is only an illustrious emblem or fig- 
ure of the inward baptism of the Holy Spirit in 
cleansing the soul from sin, without which they 
cannot be saved. Let no trifling excuse prevent 
you from taking them to the house of God, and 
teaching them to read the Holy Scriptures. Take 
them to the Sabbath-school, and teach them both 
by precept and example reverence for the name 
of God, and for the holy Sabbath, and above all, 
impress upon their young susceptible hearts the 
indispensable necessity of a divine change in order 
to a qualification for future felicity. And that 
your efforts may be the more successful, discour- 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 415 

age by all means the reading of the light, trashy, 
corrupting literature which at this day is sown 
broadcast over the country, and fervently pray to 
Hi in with whom are the issues of life and death to 
aid you in the discharge of these important duties. 
These things done, who will say that the amount 
of religious knowledge and of morality, looking to 
the welfare of society, would not be vastly in- 
creased ? or that revivals of religion would not be, 
not to say more frequent, but more genuine and 
lasting ? or that the Church would not be blessed 
with a more orderly and consistent membership? 
or that there would not be fewer, thus trained, 
who would seek to be rebaptized, not simply for 
the sake of baptism itself, but for the mode? And 
Christian parents, having performed your part to- 
ward your beloved offspring, you are encouraged 
to trustingly hope they will, sooner or later, be 
brought into the spiritual fold of Christ, and that 
you will finally meet them in heaven, to enjoy 
their happy society forever. 

Mode of Baptism. 
Upon this subject we shall not be prolix. It 
has called forth more zealous discussion and heated 
debate than its intrinsic importance demands. We 
do not deny the importance of baptism itself as 
an ordinance of the Church, but by no means are 
we enthusiastic in regard to the mode. 



416 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

What a diversity of opinion has obtained in ref- 
erence to this ordinance ! First, with regard to its 
form. The Eunomians attended to the form by bap- 
tizing in the name of the uncreated God, the created 
Son, and the sanctifying Spirit created by the Son. 
The Arians baptized in the name of the Father as 
the true God, of the Son as the Saviour and a 
creature, and of the Holy Ghost as the servant of 
both. The Roman Catholics, though they main- 
tain the essentials of baptism, corrupt its form and 
design. In its form they make an addition of 
clothing the candidate in white, tasting honey and 
milk, the sign of the cross on the forehead and 
breast, and exorcism, or the casting out of evil 
spirits. They corrupt it in its design by teaching 
that the water of baptism, consecrated by the 
priest, possesses a regenerating efficacy; all which 
are an unwarranted addition to the form and a 
prostitution of its design. The Scriptures know 
of no such additions, nor of the spiritual efficacy 
of the water used in baptism. Others practice 
immersing the bodies once ; others, again, three 
times, separately, in the name of each of the per- 
sons of the Trinity ; whilst others, not being sat- 
isfied with the mode of immersion, must repair to 
some water-course, and, standing or kneeling at 
the edge of the water, or in it, have the water 
sprinkled or poured upon them. Perhaps, how- 
ever, a large majority of the Christian Church 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 417 

has been satisfied with the latter mode, which is 
usually attended to at the places of public worship, 
without going out of the way in quest of some 
pool or water-course for the purpose. 

In regard to the mode merely, the quantity of 
water is not essential to the validity of the ordi- 
nance, no more than the size of the lamb of one 
year old was essential to the validity of the pass- 
over, or the quantity of its blood sprinkled upon 
the door-posts of the houses of the Hebrews in 
Egypt as a sign to the destroying angel. In re- 
gard to the mode of baptism we have not a great 
deal to say, and still, when we have done, we will 
have, it may be, spent more paper, ink, and time 
than the subject really merits. In anticipation of 
this we make our apology in advance, which is 
this : that the advocates, generally, of the mode 
of immersion have attached to it an importance 
which we think is warranted neither by the Bible 
nor by a sound, unbiased judgment. Much con- 
troversy (often sharp and bitter) has been indulged 
in by the champions on either side, and, judging 
from the enthusiasm and zeal they exhibit, one 
might almost conclude the mode to be essential to 
the salvation of the soul. The Bible, the Fathers, 
the lexicons, and the classics, with equal apparent 
confidence on both sides of the question, have been 
appealed to. From all these sources have argu- 
ments been sought to sustain, respectively, the 
18* 



418 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

modes of dipping and pouring. Hence, it might 
be supposed the subject has been exhausted, and 
that nothing new could be advanced upon it. 

With all due deference to the opinions of those 
who may differ from us, we have long since de- 
cided in favor of pouring as the proper mode of 
administering the ordinance of baptism, for the 
following reasons : 

1. This mode best agrees with the true nature 
and design of the ordinance, which outwardly 
is emblematic of purity — innocency. Job ix. 30 : 
"If I wash myself with snow-water, and make 
my hands never so clean." Ps. xxvi. 6 : "I will 
wash mine hands in innocency, so will I com- 
pass thine altar, Lord." But inwardly and 
spiritually it signifies the divine influence in cleans- 
ing and purifying the heart from moral pollution. 
This divine influence is represented in the Script- 
ures not by immersion, but by pouring, Prov. i. 
23 : God says to the scoffers and haters of knowl- 
edge, " Turn you at my reproof, and behold I will 
pour out of my Spirit unto you." Joel ii. 28 : "I 
will pour out my Spirit ;" and Isaiah : " Until the 
Spirit be poured down from on high." The same 
divine influence is represented as being shed abroad, 
shed on, etc. Rom. v. 5 : " The love of God is 
shed abroad by the Holy Ghost ;" also, Titus iii. 5, 
6 : "And the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which 
he shed on us abundantly." In all this there is a 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 419 

conformity in the nature and design of baptism 
administered by pouring to the influence of the 
Spirit in purifying the heart, which influence is 
"poured out/' "poured on," " shed on," and " shed 
forth." Now, admitting the fact — which we think 
is quite evident- — that outward baptism, in its 
spiritual significance, points to the inward baptism 
by the Holy Spirit, in his renewing influences upon 
the heart, and then considering both baptisms to- 
gether — the outward baptism, administered by 
pouring, and the inward baptism, which is also by 
pouring — and we discover at once the agreement 
and harmony between them. From these consid- 
erations, we take pouring to be the proper mode 
of administering the ordinance of baptism. 

2. The literal salvation of Noah and his family 
by water is presented by St. Peter as a figure 
of our salvation by Christ (1 Pet. iii. 20, 21). 
Speaking of the antediluvians, he says of the ark : 
"Wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by 
water, the like figure whereunto even baptism 
doth now save us ; not the putting away of the 
filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good con- 
science toward God." In this text there are three 
prominent points : (1) the literal salvation of Noah 
and his household ; (2) baptism is a like figure, 
and " saves us," not literally and really, but figura- 
tively; (3) in its spiritual sense it alludes to and 
embraces a purified "good conscience toward God." 



420 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Baptism is a figure which resembles, or is "like," 
that presented in the case of Noah in regard to 
the mode of it. In the figure of Noah's temporal 
salvation there is not the slightest intimation of 
immersion, but all the eight souls remained dry in 
the ark. Indeed, for this purpose the ark. was 
prepared — to prevent their immersion and destruc- 
tion with the wicked inhabitants of the earth. 
Such also was the case of the children of Israel — ■ 
whilst being " baptized unto Moses in the sea and 
in the cloud," they passed through "dry shod." 
So, likewise, Noah rode in the ark upon the waters 
of. the flood without immersion. Is it not, there- 
fore, evident that baptism, "the like figure" in 
order to resemble its prototype, must be adminis- 
tered in some other mode than immersion ? The 
mode in which the Israelites were baptized while 
passing over the Red Sea may throw light upon 
this subject. And what was that mode ? It was, 
most evidently, sprinkling or pouring. David, in 
speaking of this wonderful deliverance (Ps. lxxvii. 
15, 16), says : " Thou hast with thine arm redeemed 
thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. The 
waters saw thee, God, the waters saw thee. 
They were afraid, the depths also were troubled ;" 
and (ver. 17), "The clouds poured out water; the 
skies sent out a sound;" and (ver. 19), "Thy way 
is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters;" 
and (ver. 20), "Thou leadest thy people like a 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 421 

flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." This 
passage explains the mode of their baptism while 
they passed through the Red Sea "dry shod" 
" The clouds poured out water " while they were 
crossing, and thus they were baptized by pouring; 
and in this mode the figure of baptism conforms 
in its similitude to the original figure contained in 
Noah's temporal salvation, for we read (Gen. vii. 11, 
12), " The fountains of the great deep were broken 
up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and 
the rain was upon the earth," etc. This shows 
the likeness of the two figures in relation to their 
mode. 

The figure contained in Noah's salvation had a 
spiritual significance ; so has baptism. The figure 
in Noah's literal salvation pointed spiritually to 
the salvation of the true Church by the blood of 
Christ through " sanctification of the Spirit." 
Baptism, as already shown, points to the very 
same thing— that is, "the answer of a good con- 
science toward God." Paul says, "Having our 
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience" which is 
the same as a " good conscience." Thus the like- 
ness of the "figure" of baptism by pouring con- 
forms to the figure, in its spiritual significance, 
contained in the salvation of Noah and his house- 
hold. This cannot be done upon the hypothesis 
that immersion is the proper mode of baptism, 
which would completely destroy all likeness, or 



422 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

similitude, between the two figures, since in the 
figure of Noah's salvation by water immersion is 
utterly out of the question. 

We have in some of the foregoing observations 
alluded to the spiritual mode of baptism. This, 
as already seen, is represented in the Scriptures 
as being effected by "pouring," "shed forth," 
" shed on," etc., which none will deny. The one 
baptism spoken of by Paul (Eph. iv. 5) : "One 
Lord, one faith, one baptism ;" and (Gal. iii. 27): 
"For as many of you as have been baptized into 
Christ have put on Christ;" also (1 Cor. xii. 13): 
"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one 
body;" and (Acts ii. 2-4): "And suddenly there 
came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty 
wind, and it filled all the house where they were 
sitting : and there appeared unto them cloven 
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of 
them, and they were all rilled with the Holy 
Ghost." This was the fulfillment of three predic- 
tions of the same event — one by Joel, one by 
John, and one by our Saviour— which fulfillment 
is, by both Christ and John, expressly called bap- 
tism. The accomplishment of this prophecy took 
place on the day of Pentecost. John predicted it 
when he declared, " I indeed baptize you with 
water . . . but there cometh one after me; he 
shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with 
fire;" and the Saviour, addressing his disciples, 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 423 

said, "John baptized with water unto repentance, 
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not 
many days hence." Now then, let it be remem- 
bered that Peter, in his sermon on the day of Pen- 
tecost, immediately after the outpouring of the 
Spirit, denying the foolish charge of drunkenness, 
declares that what they "saw and heard was the 
fulfillment of that which was spoken by the Prophet 
Joel : " "And it shall come to pass in the last days, 
saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all 
flesh." Now, here is a divine transaction which 
both John and Christ predicted ; it was the bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost. Both called it baptism, 
and Peter affirms that it was effected in the pour- 
ing out of the Spirit on that occasion, in fulfillment 
of Joel's prophecy. 

It is worthy of remark that both John and our 
Saviour make use of the preposition with to denote 
both the baptism of John and that of the Holy 
Spirit. John says, "I baptize you 'with' water," 
and of Christ, "He shall baptize you 'with' the 
Holy Ghost and '.with' fire;" Christ said, "John 
baptized 'with' water, but ye shall be baptized 
'Mil the Holy Ghost;" and Peter declares that 
this baptism was accomplished by the outpouring 
of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Now, 
since this word 'with' is used both by Christ and 
his harbinger to denote the baptism by the Spirit, 
which was done by pouring^ is it not, therefore, 



424 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

strong testimony that John baptized also by pour- 
ing, since the same word, with, is used to denote 
Ms baptism ? But, waiving all that we have said 
in relation to John's baptism, it is irrefragably 
proven that Christ, John, and Peter recognized 
pouring as the mode of baptism with the Holy 
Spirit on the day of Pentecost ; and since water- 
baptism is the outward type, or figure, of that of 
the Spirit, how dare any uninspired, weak mortal 
to be so presumptuous as to say that baptism ad- 
ministered by pouring "is no baptism at all?" Let 
such an one recollect that he is indirectly casting 
contempt upon the administration of the highest 
order of baptism known to mortals — the baptism 
of the Holy Ghost. 

There is also much collateral testimony in sup- 
port of the mode of baptism for which we contend. 
In reference to this species of evidence, though 
quite conclusive, we shall sum it up in as few 
words as the nature of the subject will admit. 

The circumstances under which baptism was 
sometimes administered utterly exclude the idea 
of immersion. The case of the three thousand on 
the day of Pentecost is in point : it is altogether 
improbable that they were baptized by plunging 
— there are two weighty reasons against it: 1. 
There was only a piece of a day to attend to that 
multitude of candidates, entirely too numerous to 
be immersed in so short a time, even though all 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 425 

the apostles had been engaged. 2. It is not rea- 
sonable to suppose that the apostles administered 
water-baptism in a mode different from that in 
which they themselves had but a few hours before 
divinely received the highest order of baptism 
known in the universe; and this was administered 
by Jesus Christ himself as God, for John declared, 
" He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost," and 
Joel affirmed that God said he would do it. (See 
Acts ii. 3, 4.) The mode in which the apostles 
themselves had just received the baptism of the 
Spirit, administered by Jesus Christ as God him- 
self, was by "pouring out of his Spirit" upon them; 
and if water-baptism was designed to be a " pat- 
tern" of the "heavenly" baptism, it was assuredly 
administered to the three thousand on the day of 
Pentecost by pouring the water upon them — other- 
wise, there would be no agreement between the 
mode of water-baptism and that of the Spirit, 
which the apostles themselves had just received. 
Two other cases we will consider: l.That of 
Saul of Tarsus, baptized by Ananias. (1) On his 
mission of blood and slaughter, he was struck 
down and struck blind on his way to Damascus, 
and having put to him the astounding interroga- 
tion, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" he 
cried, "Who art thou, Lord?" Reply: "I am 
Jesus, whom thou persecutest ; arise, and go into 
the city, where it shall be told thee what thou 



426 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

shouldst do." "He arose, and was led by the 
hand into Damascus." Meanwhile, a certain de- 
vout disciple, named Ananias, in a vision was di- 
rected to " go into the street called Straight and 
inquire in the house of Judas for one Saul, for be- 
hold, he prayeth." Ananias, obeying and rinding 
Saul there— probably kneeling or prostrate in 
prayer — "put his hands upon him, and said, 
Brother Saul, receive thy sight and be filled with 
the Holy Ghost;" and "he received his sight, arose, 
and was baptized." Now, the question is, In what 
mode? that of immersion, or some other? From 
the narrative and the natural conclusions which 
may be deduced from it, there are several strong 
probabilities against immersion and in favor of 
some other mode. Whether this Judas with whom 
Saul was lodging was a Jew, or a Greek, we are 
not informed — from his name, it is likely he was 
a Jew; but, in either case, it is not supposable 
that he had in his private dwelling a baptismal 
font, especially since we learn nothing from the 
Bible of such being in use at any time for the 
purpose of Christian baptism. (2) It is natural to 
conclude that Saul was in very great agony of 
soul, and having commenced his three days' fast, 
he had no desire for food, and wishing privacy 
rather than company, he was shown into a private 
room, and that it was there Ananias found him. 
All these, from the narrative, are natural conclu- 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 427 

sions. (3) It is stated, "He arose and was bap- 
tized." The verb arose indicates merely the sim- 
ple act of rising up, but no motion from the spot 
where the rising took place ; and since the narra- 
tive gives not the slightest intimation that a single 
step was taken until he was baptized, he was bap- 
tized where he stood when he rose up. Here are 
three strong probabilities against immersion and 
in favor of some other mode; and what other 
mode but sprinkling, or pouring? 
2. We now turn to the Philippian jailer. In this 
case, recorded in Acts xvi., we have the Apostle 
Paul and Silas, a Roman jail with three apart- 
ments — the inner and outer prison and the jailer's 
room, occupied by him and his household. All 
this seems clear from the narrative. Paul and 
Silas, apprehended by the civil authority, were 
sentenced to incarceration, with a strict charge to 
the jailer to "keep them safely" who, having re- 
ceived such a charge, " thrust them into the inner 
prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks." 
At midnight they prayed and sung praises, and, 
suddenly, there was a great earthquake — the pris- 
oners' bands all fall off, and all the prison-doors 
fly open. This awakes the jailer— he springs out 
of bed, calls for a light, and seeing the prison-doors 
open, and supposing the prisoners all fled, and to 
avoid what he probably thought an ignominious 
death — the penalty of the Roman law in such 



428 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

case made and provided — he drew out his sword, 
and would have killed himself but for Paul, who 
cried, with a loud voice, " Do thyself no harm, for 
we are all here." Struck like Paul, his prisoner, 
when on his road to Damascus, he falls, trembling, 
at the feet of Paul and Silas, and brought them 
out (of the inner prison), and, with deep convic- 
tion and anguish of spirit, cried, " Sirs, what must 
I do to be saved?" The gospel answer is ready, 
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved." "And they spake unto him the word 
of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 
And he took them the same hour of the night and 
washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all 
his, straightway. And when he had brought them 
into his house (yet within the prison-building), he 
set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in 
God with all his house." Now, be it remembered, 
there was, according to the history, but one hour 
for the transpiring of quite a number of circum- 
stances — the earthquake, the waking up of the 
jailer, calling for a light which had to be struck 
and conveyed to him, surveying the prison-doors, 
drawing his sword, the intervention of Paul to 
prevent his suicide, his falling at the feet of Paul 
and Silas and bringing them out (of the inner 
prison) and washing their stripes after divesting 
them of their bloody garments, their speaking to 
him the word of the Lord and to all of his house- 



THE CHURCH OP CHRIST. 429 

hold, the baptism of himself and all that were in 
his house — in all, nine circumstances taking place 
during the space of a single hour. And, 1. To 
suppose this heathen jail to have been provided 
with accommodations for Christian baptism by im- 
mersion is to suppose what is not even supposable. 
This, then, is against immersion. 2. To suppose 
that Paul and Silas, together with the jailer and 
his family, stole out secretly that night in quest of 
some pool or water-course for the purpose of im- 
mersion!— a pretty "fix" this, for a heathen jailer 
to be caught wandering about in the dark with two 
of his noted prisoners, with whose safe custody 
he had been so strictly charged. Credulity itself 
shrinks from such a supposition, and opposes im- 
mersion, 3. But still holding on (in spite of its 
outrage upon common sense) to the latter supposi- 
tion, that Paul, Silas, the jailer and household had 
left the prison for the purpose of baptism, in any 
mode or for any other purpose, would be to sup- 
pose that Paul and Silas were guilty of the sin of 
dissimulation, since they were still in the prison 
at daylight, and positively refused to go out privily, 
but demanded that the magistrates should " come 
themselves and fetch them out." And besides, such 
barefaced deception would be but a sorry example 
to set before their new converts, whom they had 
just baptized into the Christian profession. "Nay 
verily," they were incapable of such hypocrisy; 



430 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

they had not left the prison. Here, again, is ex- 
cluded the idea of immersion. 4. The shortness 
of the time in which so many circumstances took 
place sets aside immersion. The time, one hour; 
the circumstances recorded, at least nine. The 
whole of one hour was not more than sufficient 
time to immerse the jailer and his household — 
suppose from five to eight in all — especially when 
we add the time of the now usual discourse at the 
water's edge, the prayer of the officiatiDg minister, 
and the ceremony of baptism in regard to each of 
the candidates. We say -all this would have re- 
quired more than a single hour; but where is the 
time demanded by the eight remaining circum- 
stances? Alas (for immersion!), there is none 
left — none for the earthquake, none for the waking 
up of the jailer and getting out of bed, none for 
preparing a light, surveying the prison-doors, draw- 
ing his sword, and the interposition of Paul, none 
for falling down before Paul and Silas and bring- 
ing them out of the inner^prison, and, worse than 
all, no time left to strip off their bloody clothes, 
wash their bruised bodies, and then reclothe them, 
and no time left for them to speak the word of the 
Lord to the jailer "and all that were in his house" 
— it has all been consumed by the requisite ante- 
cedents and ceremony of baptism by dipping, upon 
the supposition that dipping was the mode. But 
can any unbiased mind believe it? Will not even 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 431 

prejudice and prepossession revolt at the idea ? 
That immersion was the mode practiced on this 
occasion is totally incredible. Concluding our re- 
marks in regard to the case of the jailer, we say. 
If immersion was by the apostles practiced at all 
(which we seriously doubt), it could have had no 
place in the baptism of Saul and of the jailer. 
But upon condition that they were baptized by 
pouring, every difficulty vanishes. 

It appears that nothing can be gained by the 
advocates of immersion by an appeal to Greek 
lexicons, since men of the highest order of tal- 
ent and learning know that the words in the origi- 
nal Greek, whence come baptize, baptism, signify 
not only to dip, to plunge, to immerse, but also 
to wash, to pour, to sprinkle. The same original 
term is used to express the application of water 
in a variety of ways, such as the washing of hands 
before meals, the ceremonial cleansings and puri- 
fications among the Jews, and the washing of 
pots and other household furniture, where dipping 
is out of the question. The Greek preposition 
translated in and into, is often in the Scriptures 
rendered with and by, and more than one hundred 
times it is rendered with, and one hundred and 
fifty times at; and that the Greek preposition 
sometimes translated out of, is also rendered from; 
for instance, "Who hath warned you to flee from 
the wrath to come." Here it is rendered from in- 



432 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

stead of out of. Hence, "going down into" the" 
water may signify nothing more than going down 
at or by the water, coming up out of the water — 
nothing more than coming up from the water. 
Hence, it is impossible for the advocates of im- 
mersion to establish their mode by testimony de- 
rived either from the Bible or from any other quar- 
ter; and, by consequence, as the great weight of 
testimony preponderates on the side of pouring, 
we accept it as the proper mode of baptism. 

We now conclude our remarks upon this sub- 
ject with but little more than a few subjoined ob- 
jections to the practice of immersion; not that we 
think it invalidates the ordinance any more than 
to pour a gallon of water upon the head, but for 
the following reasons : 1. It is sometimes incon- 
venient, indeed, impracticable, on account of scarcity 
of water. 2. It not unfrequently has to be post- 
poned because of the coldness of the weather. 3. 
It sometimes happens that the officiating minister, 
or pastor, though physically able to attend to his 
other duties, finds himself disqualified, either from 
some bodily affliction, or the infirmities of age, to* 
administer baptism by immersion. 4. It often 
has to be delayed on account of delicate health, 
or sickness, and in some cases neglected altogether, 
or endanger the life of the subject. 5. We be- 
lieve that the ordinance of baptism should be gen- 
erally attended to like the Lord's-supper at the 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 433 

places of public worship, instead of traveling off 
from one to two and three miles to find sufficient 
depth of water, and when found, it is sometimes 
stagnant, oozy, and filthy. 6. We think it occa- 
sionally to be violative of the apostle's injunction, 
" Let all things be done with decency and good 
order," as it sometimes unfortunately happens 
that there is an indelicate, indecent exposure of 
person, exciting merriment, disgust, or pity. 7. 
There cannot be found in the Bible a single pas- 
sage that commands us to be immersed as the 
only mode of Christian baptism. Why, then, do 
immersionists so much insist upon young converts 
to obey their "Lord's command" when they only 
mean by it to be dipped ? It is unfair dealing, 
since there is no such command in the Bible. 

It is true there has of late appeared a new 
translation, so-called, in which its sapient authors 
have, in almost every place in the New Testament 
where the words baptize, baptism, are used, substi- 
tuted immerse, immersion, thus making Christ and 
his apostles say what they never intended to say ; 
e. g., when John the Baptist said, "He shall hap- 
tize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire," did 
he intend to say, He shall immerse, plunge, or dip 
you in the Holy Ghost and in fire? Or, when 
Paul said, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized 
into one body," did he intend to say, For by one 
Spirit are we all immersed, dipped, or plunged into one 



434 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

body? And again, when he said, "As many of 
you as have been baptized into Christ have put on 
Christ," did he intend to say, As many of you as 
have been immersed, plunged, or dipped into Christ 
have put on Christ ? This would, indeed, make 
religion quite a watery affair. Many other pas- 
sages might be mentioned, showing the outrage of 
such dangerous perversion of the Scriptures. 

But what is the matter ? Did they, after years 
of controversy, discover that they could not sus- 
tain to their satisfaction the doctrine of immersion 
by our old, time-honored translation ? So it would 
seem, or why resort to a new one, the Alpha and 
the Omega of the design of which is to teach the 
doctrine of immersion? The advocates of this 
dogma for ages could, in regard to the mode of 
baptism, see nothing in our old version but im- 
mersion. Why, then, resort to this shameful per- 
version of the word of Gfod? Is it not a tacit 
confession that, when hard pressed, they could not 
sustain their favorite mode? And they must, 
therefore, discard the words baptize, baptism, and 
substitute immerse, immersion. "0 shame, where 
is thy blush ! " But this unmagnanimous appeal 
from our old translation to a new one of their own 
making, is likely, in its results, to react upon its 
authors and the cause they endeavor to establish; 
like the blows and wounds inflicted by Satan upon 
the Saviour with the infernal intent to destroy 



THE CHURCH OP CHRIST. 435 

him and his kingdom, and set up his own; not 
knowing that it was "through death" Christ was 
to "destroy him that had the power of death" — 
that was himself, the devil. , Here was a terrible, 
unlooked-for reaction. So we think it will turn 
out with this so-called new version and its authors. 

Cause of Bigotry and Exclusiveness. 

Undue importance given to outward ordinances 
is the cause of bigotry and exclusiveness. In con- 
sequence of the darkness of the human mind, by 
reason of sin,, there is a constant tendency in 
mankind toward things which are natural and car- 
nal, instead of things that are moral and spiritual. 
Hence, the method adopted by Christ of convey- 
ing spiritual instruction by parables. 

Men are prone to walk by sight rather than by 
faith — to give to' the external ordinances of relig- 
ion more prominence than to religion itself. They 
put the sign for the thing signified, the shadow for 
the substance, the outward forms and ceremonies 
of religion for its inward reality and power. Thus 
did the Jews. Punctilious to the last degree in 
attending to all the requirements of the law of 
typical ceremonies, meanwhile overlooking faith 
in the foreshadowed and promised Messiah, they 
built their hopes of eternal life upon circumcision, 
sacrifices, outward cleansings and purifications. 
They made the fatal blunder of substituting works 



436 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

for faith — "the law of carnal commandments" for 
•* the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." 

So wedded were they to external ordinances, 
and such was the importance and efficacy they at- 
tributed to them, that it required all the logic of 
the Apostle Paul to persuade them that " he was 
not a Jew, who was one outwardly;" that saving 
circumcision was "that of the heart" — that it was 
" not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats 
should take away sins," and that " by the works 
of the law they could not be justified." But, un- 
fortunately for them, in spite of all his powerful 
arguments, the major part of them still walked on 
in their blindness until they stumbled over the 
precipice of destruction. 

To circumcision they had attributed a saving 
efficacy, since they taught that none could be saved 
without it. They fasted often, paid tithes, made 
broad phylacteries and long prayers ; but, after all, 
they were but " whited sepulchers," making "clean 
the outside of the cup and the platter," but in- 
wardly they were "ravening wolves." They were 
destitute of inward vital religion. The conse- 
quences resulting from this state of things were, 

1. A spirit of pride and vainglory. Pride 
looks complacently upon self, but with contempt 
upon others. What but national and Church-pride 
caused them to regard the rest of mankind as the 
offscouring of the world? For example, take the 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 437 

Pharisee praying (not with the Spirit) with himself 
in the temple; with what supreme contempt does 
he regard that poor heart - stricken publican ! 
Pharisees "trusted in themselves that they were 
righteous, and despised others." They boasted 
of their lineal descent from Abraham, claiming 
him as their father. They vainly fancied them- 
selves to be the peculiar favorites of Heaven, and 
considered all others as outcasts. 

Now, taking a view of this state of things 
among the Jews from a purely religious stand- 
point, we are not surprised that they should grow 
proud and vainglorious. Blinded through unbe- 
lief, they had renounced faith in the promised 
Messiah, by which only they could be justified, 
and substituted in its stead the deeds of the law. 
They had practically deprived the Holy Spirit of 
his office and influence in renewing and purifying 
the heart, and had transferred him to external 
ordinances. Hence, their pride, and boasting, and 
vainglorious conceit of themselves, which noth* 
ing but the power of religion and grace in the 
heart could humble and subdue, and this was 
largely wanting. 

2. Another consequence resulting from invest- 
ing outward ordinances with an undue importance, 
with virtues we have no right to ascribe to them, 
is bigotry, exclusiveness. And at the time at which 
we are now considering the Jews, all who are at 



438 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

all familiar with the Scriptures know that they 
were, with a few exceptions, a nation of bigots 
and exclusionists. In their own conceit they, and 
they only, were the people of God. To die with- 
out circumcision was to die out of the Church, 
and to die out of the Church was to be damned. 
" They trusted in themselves that they were right- 
eous, and despised others." This trusting in their 
self-performance of external ordinances for right- 
eousness was the very reason why they set at 
naught and excluded others. All who did not 
claim to be righteous upon the same ground that 
they did they reprobated. 

The line of religious distinction between them- 
selves and others was clearly marked. The ques- 
tion of claim not only to the privileges of the 
Church, but also to heaven, was simple, and easily 
settled : " Have you been circumcised, and do you 
keep the law of Moses ?" The validity or the in- 
validity of the claim turns upon the yes, or the no, 
to this question. Now, if they had been, in the 
true spiritual sense, the children of Abraham, and 
were "walking in the steps of the faith of Abra- 
ham," they would likely have propounded a differ- 
ent question — perhaps something like this : Do 
you, with all your heart, believe on the Messiah 
to come, trusting in him for righteousness ? and do 
you believe in the outward ceremonies of the law 
as only shadowing forth the coming Redeemer 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 439 

and his glorious kingdom ? Now, although a true 
spiritual son of Abraham, and an heir of the prom- 
ise (see Gal. iii. 29), and though he could answer 
the latter question affirmatively, the bigoted Jews 
would have set him at naught and denounced him 
as disqualified for heaven. What bigots!* How 
exclusive were this blinded people, and all owing 
to a mistaken notion as to the true nature and de- 
sign of outward ordinances. A man who seeks 
to be saved by outward religion, or by compliance 
with certain rites and ceremonies, is, of course, a 
stranger to the religion of the heart, and to that 
charity without which, though he should bestow 
all his goods to feed the poor, and give his body to 
be burned, he would be nothing. Destitute of this 
charity, such a man must be exclusive and intol- 
erant. Such were the self-righteous Pharisees. 

Having now discovered the true cause of relig- 
ious intolerance, we would suggest that this is not 
confined to the Pharisees of the Jewish Church. It 
has found in Christendom a soil of congenial char- 
acter, where it has taken root and produced a large 
and deplorable crop of its bitter fruits. Similar 
causes produce similar effects. The cause which 
produced Pharisaic exclusiveness will produce it 
wherever it exists. 

There are thousands who daily pray for the 
prosperity of the Church — for the unity of the 
Spirit and bond of peace. To such, the subject 



440 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

of which we are treating is of high interest. Look 
abroad over Christendom : do we not see denomi- 
nations, claiming the name of Christian, exhibit- 
ing the same sectarian bigotry and intolerance? 
Do we inquire for the cause ? The cause is the 
same that produced it in the Jewish Church, viz., 
giving a false position to one or both of the ordi- 
nances of the gospel Church, and attaching to 
them a false value. This was the mistake of the 
Pharisees which shut out all true charity from 
their souls, and of course they were filled with 
the opposite spirit of selfishness, intolerance. 

This false value may be attached to outward rites 
in two degrees, the higher and the lower. In the 
higher degree, the ordinances are imagined to pos- 
sess the power, when duly administered, of im- 
parting saving grace, and hence they are looked 
upon as being of inherent and vast importance. 
In the lower degree they are not supposed to pos- 
sess the virtue of imparting saving grace, but 
then they glorify and magnify baptism into an 
importance far beyond the design of its divine 
author. They make what they understand by 
baptism a term of membership in their Church 
and of communion at the Lord's-table. 

Those (or a part of them) of the higher degree 
teach that both baptism and the Lord's-supper are 
necessary to the pardon of sin, and must be dis- 
pensed by their own hands, and that they are not 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 441 

only a term of fellowship and communion in their 
Church, but the condition of salvation, since they 
teach there is no salvation without the pale of their 
Church; whilst others of the same class hold that 
immersion is essential to the remission of sins, and 
thus make immersion the condition of salvation, 
and thereby exclude from heaven all who are not 
immersed for remission of sins. Was ever a Phari- 
see more exclusive, more intolerant, than the last 
two denominations alluded to ? They are extrem- 
ists in regard to outward ordinances. The}' have 
exalted them as highly as ever a blinded, bigoted 
Jew did circumcision, and therefore they are 
equally exclusive. One of these denominations 
holds and teaches that the water of baptism, conse- 
crated by the priest, possesses the virtue of cleans- 
ing the soul from sin, and that in the sacrament 
of the supper the bread and wine are changed lit- 
erally and really into the body and blood of Christ; 
and this is not all— they worship this bread and 
wine, which they say is no longer bread and wine, 
but really and truly Christ. 

The other, as is notoriously known, teaches im- 
mersion for the remission of sin, and by conse- 
quence makes it the condition of salvation. They 
become quite sensitive at being called by their 
proper sectarian name, greatly preferring and des- 
ignating themselves by the appellation of The Chris- 
tian Church, thus clearly excluding all others. 
19* 



442 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

What we wish distinctly to present to your 
mind, reader, is this, that religious bigotry and 
exclusiveness grow out of an overweening im- 
portance attached to outward ordinances, and too 
much reliance upon them. Who so bigoted, who 
so exclusive and destitute of Christian charity to- 
ward others who may differ from them, as those 
who make most, preach most, talk most of the 
outward ordinances ? Many ministers, in whose 
conceit immersion is of vast importance, can hardly 
preach a sermon without either directly or indi- 
rectly giving water-baptism (by which they mean 
immersion) a prominent place ; and often, when 
reporting the fruits of a revival, they inform you 
how many were baptized instead of how many 
were converted. And do not these great zealots 
for baptism by dipping claim to be the only true 
Church of Jesus Christ, and exclude you from 
the kingdom of heaven unless you are immersed 
for the remission of your sins. Is not this exalt- 
ing immersion to an enormous pitch, as it is made 
the condition of your salvation? The test of your 
religion is immersion for remission. If you have 
been thus immersed for remission, you are a Chris- 
tian; if not, away with you — you are no Chris- 
tian. If you retort, "Who art thou that judgest 
another man's servant? to his own master he 
standeth or falleth ; yea, he shall be h olden up," 
it sets in motion no charitable feeling toward you. 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 443 

How clearly evident is it that false notions of the 
importance and value of outward ordinances, and 
the error of too great a reliance upon them, go 
hand in hand with religious intolerance I 

All this is strikingly evinced by our own ob- 
servation. When looking around us, does not 
sectarian exclusiveness stare us in the face in 
every quarter? And this exclusiveness is in pro- 
portion to the erroneous exaltation of external 
ordinances, and the reliance placed upon them. 
As before observed, in this respect there are de- 
grees; those who hold them erroneously in the 
higher sense exclude others from the kingdom of 
heaven. The views of those of the second, or 
lower degree, are somewhat modified, though still 
erroneous ; they do not exclude you outright 
from the kingdom of heaven, but they do exclude 
you from their fellowship and communion unless 
you will submit to undergo immersion at their 
hands. 

The correctness of the position which we have 
taken with regard to the cause of religious intol- 
erance, so long the fell disturber of the peace of 
Zion, we hope is now sufficiently apparent. It 
holds good in its application to the proscriptive, 
intolerant Pharisee, and equally so when applied 
to Romanism, and every other organization claim- 
ing the name of Christian who are exclusive and 
proscriptive of others. Without being again re- 



444 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

minded of the fact, you have but to open your 
eyes and you will at once see that those who 
make the greatest noise and ado about outward 
ordinances are the very ones who approach near- 
est to Pharisaic Church-pride and proscriptive in- 
tolerance ; and this seems to be in proportion to 
the extent of their error in regard to baptism or the 
Lord's-supper, or to both. Those who belong to 
the worst class of exclusionists denounce you, ir- 
respective of all the claims to Christianity which 
you may present, as outside the pale of salvation, 
until you submit to their dictum concerning the 
outward ordinances, and become one of them. 
Those who are not quite so deep in error do not 
propose to carry exclusiveness to such a wild ex- 
treme, and only deny you fellowship and commun- 
ion with them at the Lord's-table, generally ad- 
mitting, we believe, that others besides themselves 
may be Christians and be saved. What thanks 
are due for this one mite of charity which, it would 
seem, is all they have to spare for any but them- 
selves ! But over this little charity there is cast 
a dark shadow, since while they make this conces- 
sion "in word and in tongue," they deny it "in 
deed and in truth;" for they refuse you their fel- 
lowship and a place with them at the Lord's-table, 
practically saying, "Stand back, we are more holy 
than thou." What a glaring inconsistency! For 
if others are not worthy of their fellowship and 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 445 

communion in the Church on earth, how can they 
admit them to he worthy of communion in heaven? 
If not worthy of even a low seat with them, with 
what show of consistency can they admit them 
worthy to be honored with a high seat in heaven? 

To be consistent, these people must do one of 
two things : they must either openly deny that 
any except themselves are worthy to hold com- 
munion in heaven, and so continue their close com- 
munion, or, then, they must throw down the bar- 
rier and hold open communion with all God's 
children. Either of these expedients would re- 
lieve them of the inconsistency. Which will they 
prefer? If the former, they go headlong into the 
extremes of proscriptive Pharisaism and Roman- 
ism ; but if the latter, they will show forth that 
noble, ever-enduring virtue of charity, which con- 
strains the most obdurate of men to exclaim, 
"Behold, how they love one another!" 

We are apprised of the reasons offered as ex- 
cuses for close communion. They are of no avail 
— light as chaff; none of them will find their way 
into heaven; the fires of the last day will con- 
sume them, with -all the antichristian dross of sec- 
tarian bigotry and intolerance. If you must have 
immersion, there it is — take it. If you receive it 
with a right view, it will neither pollute your soul 
nor cleanse it ; but for the love of our common 
Lord and Saviour, let charity, "let brotherly love, 



446 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

continue." But so long as this erroneous, vitiated 
view of the external ordinances as to their high 
value prevails, the peace of Zion will be disturbed 
by its legitimate offspring — religious intolerance. 
This terrible pest, this demon fox, will ever be 
gnawing at the vine in the garden of God. Fox, 
did we say? This hellish monster — intolerance — 
with gory jaws and blood-dripping tongue, has, 
when not restrained, already destroyed millions of 
Christians, and would still, if permitted, riot in the 
work of death. But it may be said this was the 
result of extreme intolerance. Let it be granted. 
What then ? The intolerance which forbade Peter 
and John to preach any more in the name of Jesus, 
imprisoned Peter and bound him in chains ; the 
same that quarreled with Christ for healing on the 
Sabbath-day, and for eating with publicans and 
sinners, delivered him to his enemies and nailed 
him to the cross ; the same intolerance of the 
Church of Borne which condemned the doctrines 
of Jerome and Huss burnt these martyrs, with 
thousands of others, at the stake. So it is seen 
that this latent fire, though it may be possessed 
in a higher or lower degree, is the same in all ; 
like a living coal beneath the embers, it may never 
kindle around the martyr's stake, but let it, under 
favorable circumstances, be blown upon by the 
breath of fanaticism, and erelong it bursts into a 
flame. 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 447 

Again, in farther confirmation of what we have 
advanced upon this subject, let it be observed that 
those branches of the Church who hold fellowship 
with other denominations who are opposing vice 
and building up the kingdom of Christ entertain 
no extravagant views of the virtue and value of 
outward ordinances. They lay less stress upon 
them, and in them they put no reliance at all as to 
any intrinsic virtue or efficacy which, by some, 
they are imagined to possess ; they view them in 
no other light than as outward symbols, containing 
within them a spiritual idea : in baptism, the idea 
of the purifying influence of the Holy Spirit in 
cleansing the heart from moral pollution ; in the 
symbols of the bread and wine of the supper, the 
death of Christ, through which he made the atone- 
ment. These spiritual ideas, contained in the fig- 
ures, or emblems, respectively, are by faith trans- 
ferred — the one to the influence of the Holy Spirit 
in his cleansing the heart and qualifying for heaven, 
the other to the death of Christ in making atone- 
ment. And here is the difference between the 
denominations who exercise Christian charity for 
others and those to whom such charity seems to 
be an entire stranger : the latter make no transfer 
of the spiritual idea, but it remains in the emblem 
unperceived by them, or, if perceived at all, it is 
perforce made to apply to a wrong spiritual object. 
To say that the water of baptism is efficacious in 



448 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

cleansing the soul from sin ignores the spiritual 
idea contained in the symbol of water. The same 
may be said of the bread and wine. In both cases 
the spiritual idea lies concealed in the symbol, and 
the symbol itself is taken for the spiritual thing 
symbolized. Hence the dogma of baptismal regen- 
eration and that of the bread and wine, the real 
body and blood of Christ. Or if (as above said) 
there is any spiritual idea at all perceived, it may, 
by a forced construction, be made to apply to a 
wrong object, as, for instance, when baptism is 
made to represent the burial and resurrection of 
Christ. As for baptism for the remission of sins, 
all spirituality of signification is thrown out of the 
question, since baptism is simply made the condi- 
tion of pardon. 

Those who teach baptismal regeneration, or bap- 
tism for the remission of sins, incontinently thrust 
themselves in between heaven and the souls of 
men, since none can be admitted into heaven with- 
out remission of sins, and remission is obtained by 
baptism, and baptism must be performed by a hu- 
man agent. It is, hence, as clear as the light of 
day that to secure a qualification for heaven must 
depend upon the will and action of the adminis- 
trator of water-baptism. But such presumption 
is fitly rebuked and falsified, when it is declared 
(John i. 12, 13), "But as many as received him, 
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 449 

even to them that believe on his name; which 
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." This 
passage sets aside all such arrogant intruders and 
water-baptism as giving, in any essential sense, a 
qualification for heaven ; but here, again, is clearly 
seen the reason why they attribute to baptism 
such immense importance, and why they claim to 
be the only Church of Christ, to the exclusion of 
all others. 

The difference, then, between these extremists 
and other denominations, who place no such reli- 
ance upon outward ordinances, must be palpable 
to every reflecting mind. The one class puts great 
stress and trust upon external ordinances, and ex- 
cludes others; the other trusts in God, through 
faith in Christ, and does not exclude others. 
The one, by bigoted intolerance, ignores charity 
and Christian liberality ; the other extends the 
hand of Christian fellowship to all God's children. 
In a word, the one class is following in the foot- 
steps of the Pharisees, who preached, " Except ye 
be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, ye can- 
not be saved;" the other in the footsteps of Paul, 
who taught that "circumcision availeth not any 
thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature;" 
also, when he said, "For Christ sent me not to 
baptize, but to preach the gospel." 

The final consequence of attributing such 



450 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

great virtue and importance to outward ordi- 
nances is — 

3. Its tendency to deceive and ruin the souls 
of men. For when men's minds are led away 
from the cross of Christ and the power of the 
Holy Ghost, which alone can create within "a new 
heart/' to contemplate the external ordinances as 
possessing wonderful virtues, and as the channels 
through which eternal life is conveyed, is it any 
wonder that they should mistake the shadow for 
the substance, and fail of obtaining future happi- 
ness ? On this slender reed leaned the self-right- 
eous Pharisees, which, when they most needed 
support, broke in their hands and pierced them. 
Hopes of heaven built on such a false foundation 
must be swept away by the coming storm. Here 
lies the danger; and how many thousands of prec- 
ious souls have been beguiled into this dangerous 
pathway and finally ruined, naught but the light 
of the judgment-day can reveal. 

No blood of birds, nor blood of beasts, 
Nor hyssop-branch, nor sprinkling priest, 
Nor running brook, nor flood, nor sea, 
Can take the dismal stain away. 

The stain of sin. "Ye must be born again." 



PART IX.— THE END OF THE WORLD. 



. How Shall it Be ? 

TEE end of the world sometimes means the 
end of the age — the end of the Jewish age 
— as when the apostle says of Christ, " But now 
in the end of the world hath he appeared to put 
away sin." But we shall use the term in the 
sense in which the disciples used it when they in- 
quired of our Saviour when the temple should be 
destroyed — what should be the signs of his com- 
ing, and of the end of the world; also in the sense 
in which it is used in Christ's reply, " Then com- 
eth the end." The heathen seemed to believe the 
world would come to an end. Hence the lines of 
one of their poets : 

He calls to mind that there will come a time, 
Decreed by fate, when earth, and sea, and sky, 
Enwrapped in flames, shall burn, and the vast globe 
Shall sink to ruin. 

The Chinese also are said to believe that the 
earth will be consumed by fire from heaven. If 
the heathen, however, have any correct notions of 
this or any other doctrine, which is exclusively 

(451) 



452 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

within the sphere of divine revelation, we are to 
attribute it to some remote knowledge of the lat- 
ter, handed down by tradition. 

Although we know neither the day nor the 
hour of this awful catastrophe, yet are we assured 
it will come. "For the Lord is not slack concern- 
ing his promise, as some men count slackness, but 
is long-suffering, not willing that any should per- 
ish ;" and, " One day with the Lord is as a thou- 
sand years, and a thousand years as one day." 

By the end of the world we are not to under- 
stand its annihilation, but its purification, and its 
full development in its pristine beauty, grandeur, 
and glory. It will be remolded by the same di- 
vine hand that first gave it form and beauty, and 
if by sin aught of natural deformity or uncomeli- 
ness has marred it, it will be remedied in its new 
creation. It will also be purged from all moral 
pollution, and from all its natural evils. Its old 
constitution will be dissolved, and a new constitu- 
tion will be set up, both in the earth and atmos- 
pheric heavens. And although the same element- 
ary principles in the earth and the heavens may 
remain, yet, by being newly arranged and differ- 
ently organized, they will be justly entitled to 
the appellation of "new heavens and a new earth." 

It is the opinion of some men, of great scien- 
tific as well as biblical knowledge, that the reno- 
vating and purifying power of that tremendous 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 453 

day will be realized, not only in our earth and 
heavens, but in the entire heavens of the solar 
system, since our earth is a member of this sys- 
tem, and the terrestrial heavens a part of the same 
in which it revolves. And furthermore, since there 
is an articulate connection and relative dependence 
between the earth and all the planets of the sys- 
tem, it is reasonable to conclude that so great a 
change as was produced in the earth and its sur- 
rounding heavens in consequence of sin, must, in 
a greater or less degree, have affected the entire 
system as a symmetrical whole — not positively, 
but relatively; and the change or renewal of the 
planetary heavens, though real, will be peaceful, 
and not violent, as will be the case with our earth 
and heavens, which was the abode of man and 
the immediate theater of his dire rebellion. Be 
this as it may — and it may go for what it is worth 
— this much we know, " The heavens and the earth, 
which are now, . . . are . . . reserved unto fire 
against the day of judgment and perdition of un- 
godly men." (2 Pet. iii. 7.) All things created in 
the six days' work of God, were pronounced by 
him " good, very good." Every thing was perfect ; 
not absolutely, but relatively and in degree. The 
earth, "without form and void," was molded into 
a beautiful globe, mantled with its verdant foliage 
of trees and innoxious plants; the lower crea- 
tion, possessed of animal life, with all their varied 



454 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

instincts, harmoniously moved in their respective 
spheres, fulfilling their destiny as God had ap- 
pointed them; the heavens around were redolent 
of healthful breezes ; and man, the last and master- 
piece of the work of God, shone out in the beauty 
and glory of the divine image, endowed with am- 
ple authority and power as lord and ruler of 
all. Without a discordant note, all moved in un- 
disturbed harmony. Creation was now in its in- 
fant purity,, just brought forth at the fiat of the 
adorable Creator. But all was capable of a far- 
ther and complete development ; and man, combin- 
ing in his complex nature the physical and moral 
— mind and matter, the material and spiritual — 
stood forth the personal representative of both 
earth and heaven. Endowed with moral freedom, 
the indispensable correlative of rationality, he was 
of necessity to determine his own destiny between 
good and evil — allegiance to God, or rebellion 
against him. Had he, in the right use of his ' 
moral freedom, withstood the tempter, Ms victory 
would have been the victory of the entire human 
race, which was then essentially in him; and in 
one (not an improper) sense he may be said to 
have been that race himself, since " God has made 
of one blood all the nations that dwell upon the 
earth." Now, had he in his trial vanquished Sa- 
tan, he and his race would have moved on with- 
out farther impediment to their full and final 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 455 

development, and as lord and governor he would 
have conducted the earth, with all its teeming life- 
powers, to a similar destiny. This development 
was commenced in his intercourse with the Cre- 
ator — his giving appropriate names to the animals, 
and in "dressing and keeping the garden." But 
by one voluntary act of disobedience all this 
beauty is marred — all harmony disturbed, and 
wild disorder reigned. He lost his God, lost his 
purity, his power and authority. Ejected from 
Eden, he is cursed, and doomed to eat his bread 
with labor and toil. The earth, cursed on his ac- 
count, shall bring forth thorns and thistles. Much 
of its surface is covered with arid wastes and un- 
tenanted deserts, stagnant pools and impervious 
swamps and fens abounding with their disease 
and death-breeding miasma; also poisonous plants, 
unwholesome waters, venomous insects, reptiles, 
and ferocious animals infest the earth. The at- 
mospheric heavens are poisoned, so that the very 
air we breathe to live often produces death. Some- 
times floods are poured down destructive of life, 
labor, and future prospects ; anon, the heavens be- 
come as brass, causing famine. The appalling 
earthquake, the sweeping hurricane and destruc- 
tive thunderbolt — all, in a word, which we have 
enumerated, are but a part of the evils entailed 
by sin. But this is but the background of the 
picture; man himself occupies the foreground. 



456 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

He is his own worst enemy. His bosom is the 
nursing cradle of the vilest passions — inordinate 
lustful desires, covetousness, hypocrisy, envy, 
malice, and revenge. The sphere of his outward 
activities is the theater of ambition, tyranny, op- 
pression, lying, cheating, defrauding, theft, rob- 
bery, and murder; wars, bloodshed, and devasta- 
tion; so that the world groans and travails in pain, 
and will continue to do so until the great "resti- 
tution;" and this is to be accomplished by Christ, 
the second Adam, the Lord from heaven. This 
he does by taking up the development of man, 
and all things else which were under man's con- 
trol, at the point at which it was dropped, and 
conducting it to its originally destined goal. To 
fulfill this grand and glorious mission, he took into 
union with his divine nature the nature of man 
(sin always excepted). Thus incarnate "God 
manifested in the flesh;" and taking the place of 
the first Adam, atoned for his sin and the sins of 
his race yet unborn, and when born, were still, in 
one sense, one with him by unity of blood. Through 
the atonement the first Adam, with his race, is 
afforded a new probation, and life is offered him 
conditioned upon faith. When this condition is 
fulfilled upon the part of the probationer, he is 
brought into union with Christ, the second Adam, 
a partaker of his divine nature, made a child of 
God, being born of God in regeneration by the 



THE END OP THE WORLD. 457 

Holy Ghost, and is now an "heir of God, and joint- 
heir with Christ" to the victory which he won 
in the wilderness, in the garden, on the cross, and 
at the grave. Hail, thou sheet-anchor of hope, 
fountain of light and life, victorious Lord ! The 
first lord of the earth was led captive by Satan, 
but thou hast led captivity itself captive. Thou 
art the Lord from heaven, the second divinely-ap- 
pointed Lord of earth, and head of all thy spirit- 
ual seed. Thou hast overcome, and hast fairly 
won the palm to rule and subdue the earth, to 
transform it into a glorious garden, "to dress it 
and keep it," and raise fallen humanity from the 
lowest depths of moral degradation to the highest 
plane of perfection and glory of which man is ca- 
pable, when "God shall be all in all." 

At the portal of salvation there are two ever- 
diverging paths — faith and unbelief. With faith 
commences the new spiritual development. Here 
the breath of God is breathed into the soul dead 
in sin, and wakes it into "'newness of life." This 
is the passing "from death unto life." Here com- 
munion with God, lost in the first Adam, is re- 
stored in the second; the lost image of God is 
also restored. From this as a starting-point, the 
Scriptures recognize a growth, an advancement, 
symbolized by the growth of the corn and of the 
human body up to perfect development. This ad- 
vancement and attainment of perfection is all con- 
20 



458 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

ducted by Christ, the all-meritorious and triumph- 
ant head. 

We also see unmistakable signs of the right 
development in the mental as well as the spiritual 
department of Christ's dominion. Where has nat- 
ural science made her greatest and grandest achieve- 
ments? where, but under the light and genial in- 
fluence of Christianity? What nations have been 
and are to-day farthest removed from barbarous 
laAvs and customs — from superstition and idolatry ? 
Those nations which are most under the control 
of Christian principles. 

The same is true in regard to the material de- 
partment of Christ's kingdom. The desert is 
made to blossom; extensive sterile districts are 
clothed with green meadows and waving harvests. 
The rude wigwam gives place to the palatial dwell- 
ing, and the savage, untaught wilderness rejoices 
in knowledge, refinement, and civilization. The 
wildest elements are tamed and made to subserve 
useful ends; and the prime agency conducting 
these great changes and developments in the ma- 
terial world is nowhere to be sought and found 
but in the "Lord from heaven," the second Head, 
fulfilling the destined high mission of the first. 

But there are antagonistic powers in the world 
- — the powers of darkness warring against the 
powers of light. This great conflict will last so 
long as sin is in the world, and sin will remain 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 459 

until the end, as it did until the days of Noah. 
Sin being the cause of all bodily and mental evils 
with which the world is cursed, they cannot be 
removed until sin is eradicated; and this will take 
place at the time of the earth and heaven's regen- 
eration by fire. "When the Lord shall be re- 
vealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking ven- 
geance on them that know not God, and that obey 
not the gospel ;" then shall sin be purged away, 
and the earth, so long the theater of abominations, 
be renovated, and the heavens be purified from 
the foul breath of sin and pollution, and from all 
physical contaminations tending to disease and 
death. Fire is the most energetic, all-pervading, 
and destructive element of which we have any 
knowledge; and this is the element to be employed 
in the world's consummation. Peter declares in 
his second Epistle, iii. 7: "But the heavens and 
the earth, which are now, by the same word are 
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day 
of judgment;" and farther (ver. 10), "But the 
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; 
in the which the heavens shall pass away with a 
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fer- 
vent heat, the earth also and the works that are 
therein shall be burned up." This, to a skeptical 
mind, may appear too improbable and strange to 
command belief. But is the world's destruction 
by fire less probable to us than its destruction by 



460 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

water was to the antediluvians? Was it probable 
to their carnal reason that the everlasting bars and 
gates which bound and confined the watery deeps 
should be unloosed and opened to the heaving 
flood? or that the "windows of heaven," hitherto 
closed, should be opened and respond in descend- 
ing torrents of rain from above to the surging bil- 
lows below? This was too improbable to gain the 
credence of their carnal minds ; but yet the flood 
came ! — of this no right mind can doubt. 

The earth is full of combustible material; so 
are the atmospheric heavens. These need only be 
let ioose to conflagrate both earth and air, dissolv- 
ing all things and reducing all to their simple ele- 
mentary principles. This is but preliminary to a 
new arrangement, and to the creation of a new 
earth and new heavens, according to the divine 
promise. Meanwhile, the great purification is com- 
pleted; "the restitution of all things" is come. 
Sin and pollution, as vile dross, are cast off; the 
curse is fled and gone ; wild disorder, the fruit of 
sin, is subdued and melted into the sweetest har- 
mony; sickness, sorrow, pain, and death are only 
known as things that ivere; nothing now to hurt 
or destroy in this new earth and these new heav- 
ens: "the tabernacle of God is with men," and 
the "sons of God are all shouting for joy." This 
will be, no doubt, a suitable abode for the glorified 
second Adam and all his spiritual children — his 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 461 

regenerated sons and daughters. Here are the 
"new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth 
righteousness," and where righteousness dwells 
there must be righteous dwellers. The Power 
omnipotent that has re-created the earth and heav- 
ens anew will make ample provision for all. What 
if the earth should be enlarged a thousand times 
its present dimensions? Would that disturb the 
great balance of the universe? Certainly not, un- 
less there was also an increase of matter. What 
if the new earth and heavens should be self-lumin- 
ous? Then, there would be no need of the light 
of the sun, or of the moon, or of a candle, for the 
Lord God and the Lamb shall be the light, and of 
this effulgence the new earth and new heavens 
will be redolent. What if the glowing imagery 
of the prophet of Patmos should, in the grandeur 
and glory of this new creation, be more than a 
thousand-fold realized ? Then, we shall not con- 
sider as overwrought his resplendent portraiture 
of the eternal city, with jasper walls and gates of 
pearl, streets of gold and sea of glass, mirroring 
forth the ineffable glory of God and the Lamb 
forever. "And I heard a voice out of heaven, 
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, 
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his 
people, and God himself shall be tvith them and be 
their God." "And God shall wipe away all tears 
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, 



462 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be 
any more pain ; for the former things are passed 
away." "And there shall be no more curse." 
" Therefore, beloved, seeing we look for such things, 
what manner of persons ought we to be?" 

The Resurrection. 

In the noble speech delivered by the Apostle 
Paul before King Agrippa, defending himself from 
the false charges brought against him by his per- 
secutors, he asked that potentate why it should be 
a thing incredible with him that God should raise 
the dead. This question may be reiterated. Why 
should it be thought incredible with any one, since, 
1. None will deny that He who created the body 
has power to resurrect it. 2. The resurrection of 
the body has its analogy in nature. The sun sets 
and rises; vegetation decays and rises again. 
Paul, treating of the resurrection, uses the corrup- 
tion and reviving of the seed cast into the ground 
as an emblem of the resurrection of the human 
body. 3. It is not reasonable to suppose that 
Christ, the living Head, having vanquished death, 
risen from the dead, and ascended to heaven with 
his glorified body, would leave the bodies of his 
members under the power of death forever in the 
grave. 4. As the body is in mystic union with 
the soul, and is the soul's instrument in its out- 
ward activities in the service of God, it is but just 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 463 

to conclude that the bodies of Christ's members 
shall live again in union with the soul, to receive, 
conjointly, the inheritance which awaits them in 
heaven. 5. The bodies of God's children are 
called the temples of the Holy Ghost. We may, 
therefore, reasonably conclude that these dwelling- 
places will not be suffered to lie in eternal ruins. 
6. The Scriptures abound with proofs upon this 
subject. Christ declares that God is not the God 
of the dead, but of the living, because he is the 
God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob ; and 
he uses this passage to prove the resurrection. 
Job xix. 25, 26, teaches most clearly this doctrine: 
" For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that 
he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; 
and though after my skin worms destroy this body, 
yet in my flesh shall I see God." Also, Ps. xvii. 
15: "As for me, I will behold thy face in right- 
eousness : I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with 
thy likeness." And Dan. xii. 2: "Many of them 
that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, 
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and 
everlasting contempt." Also, John v. 28, 29 : 
"Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in 
the which all that are in the graves shall hear his 
voice, and shall come forth; they that have done 
good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that 
have done evil, unto the resurrection of damna- 
tion." The apostles "preached through Christ the 



464 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

resurrection." Paul devotes one whole chapter of 
1 Cor. to this subject. See also 1 Thess. iv. 13-16, 
and Rev. xx. 5, 6, with numerous other passages, 
in confirmation of this doctrine. 

All Men to be Raised Up. 

The righteous will be raised by virtue of their 
union with Christ, their living Head, "by his 
quickening Spirit, which dwelleth in them." As 
he had "power to lay down his life and power to 
take it again," so he has power to awaken into new 
life the sleeping bodies of his members. "When 
the trumpet shall sound, the dead shall awake." 
This, probably, is the seventh trumpet of the 
Apocalypse, under the sounding of which the 
kingdoms of the world are given to God and to 
his Christ, and is the time of the dead that his 
servants should be rewarded and the wicked de- 
stroyed. 

The rising from the dead will be universal, of 
sinners as well as of saints, but the dead in Christ 
shall take precedence of the dead out of Christ: 
"Every one in his own order, Christ the flrst-fruits ? 
afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." 

The manner of the resurrection none can now 
comprehend, only so far as we are enlightened by 
sacred writ. This much is revealed : that, although 
the bodies of Christ's members are "sown in cor- 
ruption, sown natural bodies, sown in weakness, 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 465 

sown in dishonor/' " they shall be raised in incor- 
ruption," " spiritual bodies," and shall be raised in 
" power and in glory." Those, however, who are 
alive at the coming of the Lord will be changed 
* in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." " For 
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this 
mortal must put on immortality." When they 
shall see the God-man " as he is," in his glorified 
bod}', " they shall be like him." For a manifesta- 
tion of this glory, let us fancy ourselves in com- 
pany with the three favored disciples — Peter, 
James, and John — on that "high mountain" with 
Jesus, when, suddenly, a cloud of glory overshad- 
ows us, and he is transfigured : his raiment shines 
with dazzling brightness, he is enrobed in glitter- 
ing glories, and now the voice of the Father, 
"This is my beloved Son, hear ye him." We fall 
prostrate with the three disciples, for how could 
mortals long bear up under such a display of di- 
vine effulgence? This we may take as a pattern 
of the resurrected saints, whose bodies will be 
fashioned Like the glorious body of their risen 
Saviour. They shall shine "as the stars forever; " 
and if the stars be so many suns, how transcendently 
bright and glorious must be the place called heaven ! 
The heathens, we believe, generally denied the 
doctrine of the resurrection — so did the Sadducees; 
but to all who have any just claims to Christianity 
it is, truly, a source of much consolation. 
20* 



466 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

The Apostle Paul was mocked and persecuted 
for the hope he had of this glorious change. He 
counted all things loss, that he might know Christ 
and the power of his resurrection, and the fellow- 
ship of his sufferings, being made conformable to 
his death, if by any means he might attain to the 
resurrection of the dead — that is (we suppose), 
that he might have part in the resurrection desig- 
nated by John, in the Apocalypse, as " the first 
resurrection." Happy shall he be who shall be 
thus honored and distinguished on this momentous 
occasion. 

Final Judgment. 

That there will be a day of final judgment is 
evident from the sacred Scriptures, which declare 
that " God shall bring every work into judgment," 
and that "the Lord cometh with thousands of his 
saints to execute judgment upon all." In Eccl. 
xii. 14, it is affirmed that " God shall bring every 
work into judgment, with every secret thing, 
whether it be good, or whether it be evil;" also, 
it is declared, "He hath appointed a, day in the 
which he will judge the world in righteousness." 
See also Matt. xii. 36 ; 2 Tim. iv. 1 ; Jude 15, 
with many other passages of the same import. 

The truth of this doctrine seems to be divinely 
impressed upon all men, whether heathen or Chris- 
tian. Portions of the former believed that certain 
of their gods would judge mankind in the shades 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 467 

below; others that the Great Spirit would adjudge 
the good to a happy hunting-ground and the wicked 
to a place the reverse. And what is conscience, 
that inward witness testifying to both good and 
evil, other than a silent monitor referring men to 
a day of final reckoning ? 

The justice and goodness of God require that 
it shall be "well with the righteous and ill with 
the wicked." This, however, is not always the 
case in this world. How often is virtue oppressed 
and trodden down, while vice reigns triumphant! 
" The rich man had his good things," while " Laza- 
rus had his evil things" Even admitting that the 
laws of nature and civil laws inflict the necessary 
and sufficient punishment upon their violators 
(which we by no means do), still there are many 
crimes committed by men of which neither of 
these laws takes cognizance — such as inordinate 
lustful desires, covetousness, secret malice, and 
criminal intentions which, for want of opportunity, 
are not carried into practice ; nor is the one-thou- 
sandth part of the lying, cheating, defrauding, 
profanity, adultery, and murder perpetrated by 
men punished in this life; and, therefore, justice 
demands that there shall be a day when every 
hidden thing shall be brought to light and receive 
its just reward. 

The innocent, too, are often confounded with 
the guilty, and are frequently punished here, while 



468 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the guilty, by suborned witnesses, the incompe- 
tency, prejudice, or bribery of judges, go free. 
All these things loudly proclaim the moral pro- 
priety, and therefore the certainty, of a day of 
judgment. 

The divine goodness, as well as justice, requires 
that in the moral fitness of the divine procedure 
there should be a discriminating line drawn be- 
tween the virtuous and the vicious, between those 
who love and worship God and those who hate 
him; and, accordingly, we are informed, "Then 
shall ye return and discern between the righteous 
and the wicked." The former he will place upon 
his right hand, the latter upon his left. 

It is generally believed by the Christian world 
that the righteous, when they die, are taken to a 
place of rest and of unspeakable fruition of joy, 
and that the wicked are consigned to the abodes 
of everlasting misery. This conclusion is justified 
by the Scriptures. An intermediate state called, by 
the Romish Church, purgatory is but a fond inven- 
tion of her priesthood to subserve their pecuniary 
interests, and is wholly unwarranted by the Bible. 
The "Voice" said to the prophet, "Write, Blessed 
are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: 
Yea,, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from 
their labors, and their works do follow them;" and 
Paul preferred being absent from the body and to 
be present with the Lord — hence, if the glorified 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 469 

Saviour is in heaven, that was the place to which he 
expected to go when he should be separated from 
the body. John, also, in his vision saw a great 
multitude singing before "the throne/' and was 
told they followed the Lamb, and that they were 
redeemed from among men and were " the first- 
fruits unto God and unto the Lamb." The con- 
verted malefactor, on the day of the crucifixion, 
went with Christ into paradise, and Abraham and 
Lazarus were in a place not only of rest, but also 
of heavenly consolation, while the " rich man " 
was lifting up his eyes in the torments of hell. 
From these and many other passages of Scripture 
it is clear that both the righteous and the wicked, 
when they die, enter immediately upon their un- 
changeable destiny. If this be so, does it super- 
sede the necessity of any particular day of future 
judgment ? It may be said in reply that it is in- 
dispensable, in order to the declarative glory of 
God, that the infinite rectitude of his administra- 
tion should be clearly and fully displayed before 
his intelligent universe, that all, with one acclaim, 
may cry, "Thou hast judged in righteousness;" 
"Just and true are thy ways, thou King of 
saints." 

Many in that day who in this life had won the 
confidence of the Church will, when the secrets of 
their hearts shall be disclosed, be set on the left 
hand, with the awful, but just, sentence, "Depart 



470 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

from me, I never knew you;" and all upright in- 
telligences will cry, Amen! 

It may be farther remarked that the reason why 
men are not finally judged as soon as they die is 
that the good or evil which they have done in their 
life-time will bear fruit to the end of time. God, 
of course, knows at the moment the deed is per- 
formed just what all its results will be. This he 
knew from eternity, but neither men nor angels 
know. Hence, a general judgment is necessary 
to reveal all the good, as well as all the evil, flow- 
ing from men's actions. To illustrate: an infidel 
writes a book against the Bible and against Chris- 
tianity; he dies as soon as the book is printed. 
God knows the mischief such a book will do, men 
do not. The evil influence continues to the end 
of time. It is said that Voltaire, Frederick II., 
King of Prussia, D'Alembert, and Diderot headed 
a conspiracy, about the middle of the last century, 
with the infernal intent to overthrow Christianity 
and extirpate it from the earth. There were also 
many secondary agents, whom they seduced, and 
who joined these arch-conspirators against the 
Christian religion. They kept up a secret corre- 
spondence, spared no pains, used all means within 
their power; no artifice that impiety could invent, 
no ardor and zeal that the magnitude of their en- 
terprise could inspire, no ridicule, bitter invective, 
and false defamation which the deadliest malice 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 471 

could suggest, were wanting in these conspirators 
for the destruction of the Christian religion. They 
wrote, they debated, they resorted to politics, to 
every artifice and means, however unfair and im- 
pious, to compass their diabolic end. And who 
can tell the amount of mischief that conspiracy 
has done and will continue to do until time shall 
end ? To say the least, the poison of infidelity 
was spread through the greater portions of Europe 
and America, and the virus still taints the blood 
and develops itself, under different .names and 
phases, in multiplied thousands of the present day 
in Christendom. Such conspirators against God 
and religion, though dead, yet speak for evil. 
From these considerations it is evident that a gen- 
eral judgment is necessary, that all the evil which 
men do, and that every hidden thing, may be 
brought to light, that an assembled universe may 
bear witness to God's righteous distribution of re- 
wards and punishments. 

Yes, every secret of my heart 
Must shortly be made known, 

And I receive my just desert 
For all that I have done. 

Similar remarks may be made in regard to the 
good deeds of good men. After these men are 
dead their good deeds live on from age to age, dis- 
countenancing vice, encouraging virtue, revealing 



472 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the purity and power of religion, and promoting 
the best interests of mankind, and glorifying the 
adorable Creator. What shall be said of the 
Luthers, the Wickliffs, the Knoxes, the Whitefields, 
Wesleys, Bunyans, and the McGreadys, and hosts 
of others, even of private Christians, whose labors 
of love and deeds of mercy will continue to live 
and bear fruit till time shall merge itself into eter- 
nity? These good deeds of good men, often now 
misinterpreted and traduced by wicked men, re- 
quire a general judgment to clear away the slan- 
der and contempt that have been heaped upon 
them. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as 
the stars of *the firmament," and the good they 
have done meet a gracious reward. 

In this grand assize who is to be the judge? 
Although God is the Judge, yet is that high pre- 
rogative settled upon the Lord Jesus Christ, "for 
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all 
judgment to the Son," and "we must appear be- 
fore the judgment-seat of Christ." 

All men will be judged, the wicked as well as 
the righteous, "that every one may receive accord- 
ing to that he hath done, whether it be good or 
bad." "Although the judgment will virtually take 
place in the resurrection, since the bodies of men, 
each individually, will bear the marks which will 
exemplify the results of the judgment, yet in the 
mind of the prophet it is seen as a judicial process 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 473 

subsequent to the resurrection, that all may trans- 
pire in due form and order." 

The nature of the judgment may be learned 
from the parable of the division of the sheep from 
the goats. "Then shall he say to those upon his 
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 
of the world;" and to the ungodly upon his left 
hand, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, 
prepared for the devil and his angels." 

In the resurrection the bodies of the wicked 
will be immortalized, but will not be fashioned like 
the glorious body of Christ, seeing they are not 
in union* with him; but the nature of their bodies 
will conform to their character and the character 
of Satan, with whom they were in league against 
Christ and his kingdom. Their bodies will be not 
like the bright and glorious bodies of the saints, 
but will be conformed to the dark and wretched 
abode of their lost spirits, and will be to each the 
medium of pain and torment ; and as the reunion 
of the redeemed, purified souls and glorified bodies 
of the saints will capacitate them to enjoy the 
highest degree of happiness, so the reunion of the 
unredeemed, polluted souls and inglorious bodies 
of the children of Satan will capacitate them to 
suffer the deepest torment and misery. 

But the judgment is not yet closed. The devil 
and his angels are also to be judged; "For," as 



474 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

Peter declares, "God spared not the angels that 
sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered 
them in chains of darkness to be reserved unto 
judgment." Although cast down to hell, they 
will be summoned thence to receive their final 
doom and full punishment for the part they have 
taken against the kingdom of Christ, the glory of 
God, and the happiness of mankind ; and all this 
will be in addition to their suffering consequent 
from their first transgression. 

It appears also that the saints will, as a token 
of high distinction and honor, be exalted to a par- 
ticipation with Christ in the judgment : " Know 
ye not that the saints shall judge the world?" 
"Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" — 
that is, as we suppose, fallen angels. The general 
resurrection and judgment, together with the re- 
generation of the earth and heavens by fire, will 
close up the world's history, which commenced at 
its primeval creation and ends at its regeneration, 
or new creation. The history of man began with 
the first Adam, at his formation from the dust of 
the ground, including his trial and fall, and ends 
with the triumphant victory of Christ, the second 
Adam, in conducting redeemed and sanctified hu- 
manity in spiritual union with him, together with 
the earth and heavens, to their originally-destined 
goal of perfection and glory. 



PART X.— MISCELLANEOUS. 



Church Music. 

THOUGH I never had a personal quarrel with 
the singers in any place, yet I have never 
known in one case, where there was a choir of 
singers, that they did not make disturbance in 
societies. And it would be much better, in every 
respect, to employ a precentor, or a person to raise 
the tunes ; and then the congregation would learn 
to sing, the purpose of singing would be accom- 
plished, every mouth would confess to God, and a 
horrible evil w 7 ould be prevented — the bringing 
together in the house of God, and making them 
almost the only instruments of celebrating his 
praises, such a company of gay, airy, giddy, and 
ungodly men and women as are generally grouped 
in such choirs ; for voice and skill must be had, 
let decency of behavior and morality be where 
they will. Every thing must be sacrificed to a 
good voice, in order to make the choir complete and 
respectable. Many scandals have been brought 
into the Church by choirs and their accompani- 
ments. Why do not the Methodist preachers lay 
this to heart? 

(475) 



476 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

The singing which is recommended (Col.iii. 16) 
is widely different from what is commonly used 
in most Christian congregations ; a congeries of 
unmeaning sounds associated to bundles of non- 
sensical and often ridiculous repetitions, which 
at once both deprave and disgrace the Church of 
Christ. Melody, which is allowed to be the most 
proper for devotional music, is now sacrificed to an 
exuberant harmony, which requires not only many 
different kinds of voices, but different musical 
instruments, to support it; and by these pre- 
posterous means the simplicity of the Christian 
worship is destroyed, and all edification totally 
prevented. And this kind of singing is amply 
proved to be very injurious to the personal piety 
of those employed in it : even of those w T ho enter 
with a considerable share of humility and of Chris- 
tian meekness, how few continue to sing with 
grace in their hearts unto the Lord ! 

It does appear that singing psalms, or spiritual 
hymns, was one thing that was implied in what is 
termed prophesying in the Old Testament, as is 
evident from 1 Sam. x. 5, 6, 10, etc.; and, when 
this came through an immediate afflatus, or inspi- 
ration of God, there is no doubt that it was exceed- 
ingly edifying, and must have served greatly to 
improve and excite the devotional spirit of all 
that were present; but I rather suppose that their 
singing consisted in solemn, well-measured reci- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 477 

tative, than in the jingling of often foolish sounds 
which we use when a. single monosyllable is some- 
times shivered into a, multitude of semiquavers! 
Here it may not be improper to remark that the 
spirit and the understanding are seldom united in 
our congregational singing. Those whose hearts 
are right with God have generally "but little 
skill" in music; and those who are well skilled 
in music have seldom a devotional spirit, but are 
generally proud, self-willed, contentious, and arro- 
gant. Do not these persons entirely overrate 
themselves ? . . ... A good singer among the 
people of God, who has not the life of God in 
his soul, is vox, et prceierea nihil — as Heliogabalus 
said of the nightingale's brains, on which he de- 
sired to sup, "he is nothing but a sound." Some 
of these persons (I mean those who sing w T ith the 
understanding, without the spirit) suppose them- 
selves of great consequence in the Church of 
Christ; and they find foolish, superficial people 
whom they persuade to be of their own mind, and 
soon raise parties and contentions, if they have 
not every thing their own way ; and that way is 
generally as absurd as it is unscriptural and con- 
trary to the spirit and simplicity of the gospel. 

It is very likely that the singing of the Jews 
was only a kind of recitative or chanting, such as 
we still find in synagogues. It does not appear 
that God had especially appointed those singers, 



478 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

much less any musical instruments, the silver 
trumpets excepted, to be employed in his service. 
Musical instruments in the house of God are, at 
least, under the gospel, repugnant to the spirit of 
the gospel, and tend not a little to corrupt the 
worship of God. Those who are fond of music 
in the theater are fond of it in the house of God 
when they go thither; and some, professing Chris- 
tianity, set up such a spurious worship, in order 
to draw people to hear the gospel. This is doing 
evil that good may come of it; and by this means 
light and trifling people are introduced into the 
Church of Christ, and, when in, are generally very 
troublesome, hard to be pleased, and difficult to be 
saved. 

Did ever God ordain instruments of music to 
be used in his worship ? Can they be used in 
Christian assemblies according to the spirit of 
Christianity? Has Jesus Christ, or his apostles, 
even commanded or sanctioned the use of them ? 
Were they ever used anywhere in the Apostolic 
Church? Does the use of them, at present, in 
Christian congregations, ever increase the spirit 
of devotion? . . . . Is it ever found that 
those churches and Christian societies which have 
and use instruments of music in divine worship 
are more holy, or as holy as, those societies 
w T hich do not use them? and is it always found 
that the ministers who affect and recommend them 



MISCELLANEOUS. 479 

to be used in the worship of Almighty God, are 
the most spiritual men and useful preachers ? 
Can mere sounds, no matter how melodious, where 
no word or sentiment is or can be uttered, be con- 
sidered as giving praise to God "any more in his 
house than in the ball-room or the theater?" Are 
not the very same character of sympathy and 
feeling wrought up in the house of God by instru- 
mental music that are wrought up by music in the 
ball-room and theater, and are, therefore, of no 
spiritual value? Has not the Roman Catholic, 
the most corrupt and anti- Christian Church upon 
the earth, been for ages and centuries past the 
most zealous supporter of instrumental music in 
her so-called Christian worship, and is she to-day 
more spiritual and true in the worship of God than 
those Christians who do not use it? If these 
questions cannot be answered in the affirmative, 
then is not the introduction of such instruments 
into the worship of God anti-Christian and calcu- 
lated to debase and ultimately ruin the spirit and 
influences of the gospel of Jesus Christ? And 
should not all who wish well to the spread and 
establishment of pure, spiritual, and undefiled re- 
ligion lift up their hand, their influence, and their 
voice against them? The argument from their 
use in the Jewish service is futile in the extreme, 
when applied to Christianity. 

In a representative system of religion, such as 



480 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the Jewish, there must, have been much outside 
work, all emblematical of better things — no proof 
that such things should be continued under the 
gospel dispensation, where outsides have disap- 
peared, shadows flown away, and the substance 
alone is presented to the hearts of mankind. He 
must be ill off for proofs in favor of instrumental 
music in the Church of Christ who has recourse 
to practices under the Jewish ritual ! 

Moses had not appointed any musical instruments 
to be used in the divine worship. There was nothing 
of the kind in the first tabernacle. The trumpets 
or horns then used were not for song, nor for 
praise, but as we use bells, to give notice to the 
congregation of what they were called to perform, 
etc.; but David did certainly introduce many in- 
struments of music into God's worship, for which, 
we have already seen, he was solemnly reproved 
by the Prophet Amos (vi. 1, 6). Here, however, 
the author of this book states, he had the com- 
mandment of the Prophet Nathan and Gad, the 
king's seer; and this is stated to have been the 
commandment of the Lord by his prophets ; but 
the Syriac and the Arabic give this a different 
turn: "Hezekiah appointed the Levites in the 
house of the Lord, with instruments of music, and 
the sound of the harps, and with the hymns of 
David, and the hymns of Gad, the king's prophet; 
for David sang the praises of the Lord his God, 



MISCELLANEOUS. 481 

as from the mouth of the prophets." It was by 
the hand or commandment of the Lord and his 
prophets that the Levites should praise the Lord ; 
for so the Hebrew text may be understood ; and 
it was by the order of David that so many instru- 
ments of music should be introduced into the 
divine service. But were it even evident — which 
it is not, either from this or any other place in the 
sacred writings — that instruments of music were 
prescribed by divine authority under the law, 
could this be adduced, with any semblance of 
reason, that they ought to be used in Christian 
worship ? No, the whole spirit, soul, and genius 
of the Christian religion are against this; and 
those who know the Church of God best, and 
what constitutes its genuine spiritual state, know 
that these things have been introduced as a sub- 
stitute for the life and power of religion, and that 
where they prevail most there is the least of the 
power of Christianity. Away with such por- 
tentous baubles from the worship of that infinite 
Spirit who requires his followers to worship him 
in spirit and in truth ! for to no such worship are 
those instruments friendly. 

I have no doubt but the gross perversion of 
the simplicity of the Christian worship, by the 
introduction of various instruments of music into 
churches and chapels, if not a species of idolatry, 
will at least rank with evil-worship and superstitious 
21 



482 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

rites and ceremonies. Where the Spirit and unc- 
tion of God do not prevail in Christian assemblies, 
priests and people being destitute of both, their 
place, by general consent, is to be supplied by 
imposing ceremonies, noise, and show. 

The Church of Rome, in every country where 
it either prevails or exists, has so blended a pre- 
tended Christian devotion with heathen and Jewish 
rites and ceremonies, two parts of which are bor- 
rowed from pagan Rome, the third from the Jewish 
Ritual, ill understood and grossly misrepresented, 
and the fourth part from other corruptions of the 
Christian system. Nor is the Protestant Church 
yet fully freed from a variety of matters in public 
worship which savors little of that simplicity and 
spirituality which should ever designate the wor- 
ship of that infinitely pure Spirit, who cannot be 
pleased with any thing incorporated with his wor- 
ship that has not been prescribed by himself, and 
has not a direct tendency to lead the heart from 
earth and sensual things to heaven, and to that 
holiness without which none shall see the Lord. 
The singing, as it is practiced in several places, 
and the heathenish accompaniments of organs and 
musical instruments of various sorts, are as con- 
trary to the simplicity of the gospel and the 
spirituality of that worship which God requires, 
as darkness is contrary to light; and if these 
abuses are not corrected, I believe the time is not 



MISCELLANEOUS. 483 

far distant when singing will cease to be a part of 
divine worship. It is now, in many places, such 
as cannot he said to be any part of that worship 
which is in spirit and according to truth. May 
God mend it! — Dr. Clarices "Christian Theology." 

[The deep and settled conviction of so learned 
and deeply pious a man as Dr. Clarke ought cer- 
tainly to have great weight in regard to what is 
hurtful or beneficial in the worship of God. He 
was also a man of large experience and extensive 
observation. From both of these, as well as from 
the very nature of the case, he unreservedly de- 
livers his sentiments, which are most decidedly 
against the use of instruments of music in the 
worship of God. — Author.] 

Geology and the Bible. 

Scientists, in their modern pretended discoveries, 
seem to have found out that % geology contradicts 
the Bible, which it never did, nor ever can ; but, 
taking what they call their scientific discoveries as 
infallibly true, the Scriptures must be judged by 
this rule, and may stand or fall accordingly. 

Now this rule might do very well, provided 
these so-called discoveries are infallibly correct — 
not otherwise. They tell us that Nature is God's 
book, and that Nature does not err. In all sin- 
cerity let this be granted ; but are we certain that 



484 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

these scientists, with their very limited knowledge, 
have given us the true interpretation of the book? 
This is a grave question, and we are compelled to 
answer it in the negative. They inform us there 
are certain regular strata of rock formations, and 
in some of these there are fossil remains of both 
vegetables and animals; that these fossilized veg- 
etables and animals are not found in the lower or 
primitive rocks, and therefore they conclude that 
these rocks were formed anterior to the formation 
of those rocks which contain such fossilized veg- 
etables and animals, and consequently previous 
to the existence of either vegetables or animals 
upon the earth. In the upper strata of rocks, in 
which are found fossils of animals, it is assumed 
that animals existed upon the earth long, perhaps 
millions of years, before the existence of man; 
that the first indications of animal life is in its 
lowest development, and then in the rocks of a 
more recent formation are found fossils indicating 
a higher development of animal life, and that 
many or all of these animals had perhaps become 
extinct ages before the Mosaic account of the 
creation of the earth with its animal inhabitants. 
Thus it is evident that what is called the sci- 
ence of geology is made to contradict the history 
of the creation of the earth, with its vegetables 
and animals, as given by Moses in the Book of 
Genesis. But before we take the pretended in- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 4 8 5 

terpretations of empirical science as the infallible 
standard of truth, let us first inquire how far 
these scientists have carried their investigations 
beneath the surface of the earth. Two miles is 
about the utmost depth to which the crust of the 
earth has been pierced, and even that in a very 
few places. Assuming the earth's diameter to be 
8,000 miles, 4,000 miles, minus two to its center, 
yet remain in total obscurity, unapproached by 
human investigation. Two miles out of four thou- 
sand constitute the basis of geological science! 
Pray, what kind of rocks lie below the stratum 
called primitive ? Here, for an answer, they must 
go into the dominions of Pluto, the heathens' hell. 
All is guesswork beyond the two miles deep, and 
possibly more than half on this side of it. What 
if, in process of time, men should dig down into 
the earth several miles deeper, and find strata of 
fossiliferous rocks containing the impressions of 
vegetation, animals, and even man? Would not 
such a discovery contradict and overturn their 
present theory? What a flutter such a develop- 
ment would make among the scientific ivorld-makers ! 
And who can say to the contrary ? All beyond a 
few little holes in the outside crust lies in total 
darkness. " The path to it no fowl knoweth and 
the vulture's eye hath not seen." Let the Almighty 
speak, and answer thou him: "Where wast thou 
when I laid the foundations of the earth? De- 



486 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

clare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid 
the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who 
hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are 
the foundations thereof fastened? or who hath laid 
the corner-stone thereof, when the morning stars 
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for 
joy? Or who shut up the sea with doors, when 
I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick 
darkness a swaddling-band for it, and break up for 
it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and 
said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther, and 
here shalt thy proud waves be stayed? Hast thou 
entered into the springs of the sea ? or hast thou 
walked in the search of the depth?" 

One class of geologists have held to the aqueous 
origin of our earth — that is, its formation by the 
deposition of earthy matter from water. Another 
class hold the igneous theory, or its formation by 
the agency of fire. Now, according to the water 
theory, it would require a long time for the forma- 
tion of the different strata of rock found in the 
earth all around the globe from the slow process 
of deposition, and for the hardening of that semi- 
fluid deposit into solid rock, hundreds, and per- 
haps, in some instances, thousands of feet in thick- 
ness. Such a formative process must have required 
the lapse of ages upon ages beyond the data of 
biblical chronology. But can they tell us how it 
came to pass that water deposited for a period 



MISCELLANEOUS. 487 

long enough to form pure granite and other strata 
of rock of such great thickness, in which there is 
no sand or silex, and then suddenly commence 
depositing coarse sand, forming strata of sand- 
stone of equal thickness ? And anon, there is a 
deposition of lime, in which there is no grit, form- 
ing immense beds of limestone. To suppose that 
our globe was formed in accordance with the 
aqueous theory, is to suppose contrary to any 
reasonable supposition, and involves a miracle less 
credible than that performed by Jehovah in creat- 
ing at once, by his omnipotence, the earth, with 
its entire frame-work of rocks which underlie its 
surface. 

The igneous theory is no less objectionable. 
This we believe assumes that the earth was origin- 
ally a globe of liquid fire, which, however, is a 
mere conjecture void of proof, and contradicts the 
biblical history, which informs us that the earth 
was " without form and void;" that darkness was 
upon the deep, and that "the Spirit of God moved 
upon the waters," etc., which facts could not have 
existed had the earth been a globe of fire. The 
igneous theory supposes that the outside of this 
fiery ball gradually cooled down, forming a hard 
crust, which in process of time, from the action 
of heat and moisture, slowly decomposed, and thus 
the soil was formed for the production of vegeta- 
tion, opening the way for the existence of animal 



488 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

life upon the earth. How these Plutonists account 
for the fossil remains of vegetables and animals 
in these rocks which are said to contain them, 
we are at some loss to determine, but suppose it is 
by assuming that the rocks of our globe are partly 
of igneous and partly of aqueous origin, and that 
those in which these remains are found have been 
formed by the process of aqueous deposition. But, 
query: Whence came that wonderful inundation 
of water, covering the globe, or at least a great 
portion of it, from which such vast amounts of 
earthy matter settled so as to form such immense 
strata of solid rocks ? We are told that such were the 
subterranean forces generated by the internal heat 
that they burst the solid crust of the earth, heaved 
up the mountains, let loose the waters, which, seek- 
ing their level, rushed off to those localities since 
called seas and oceans. But if the globe was a 
mass of liquid fire, in what part of it were those 
vast waters contained ? Such a theory contradicts 
itself. But perhaps it may be said that from the 
humid vapor surrounding the earth, and the rains 
descending upon it from the clouds, its solid crust 
was once covered with water, and upon the up- 
heavals and eruptions which took place, that then 
the waters fled to the lower localities and formed 
the seas and oceans. What a cunningly devised 
fable to get rid of the biblical history of the earth! 
The whole of this theory of the formation of the 



MISCELLANEOUS. 489 

earth is a mere figment of the fancy, and is desti- 
tute not only of proof, but even of plausibility. 

We will close our remarks upon this subject 
after briefly considering one other of the doctrines 
advocated by the modern teachers of the science 
of geology, namely, the formation of stone-coal. 
The theorv is that this substance is of vegetable 
origin; that in some remote age of the world 
the vegetable productions of the earth were much 
ranker and far more abundant than in this age, 
and that by the force of tremendous currents of 
water which swept over the earth, vast quantities 
of trees and all sorts of vegetable matter were 
piled up in certain localities, constituting the ex- 
tensive coal-fields now found in the earth, and that 
by a chemical process in the great laboratory of 
Nature, and by superincumbent pressure, all this 
vegetable matter has been converted into coal. 
Now, all this theory is based upon two unproved 
postulates, or mere conjectures. First, the rank 
growth and superabundance of vegetation; and, 
secondly, the wonderful currents of water sweep- 
ing it together. But, admitting these assertions 
as facts, which, however, are sadly wanting of 
proof, still there are insuperable objections to the 
theory. For how, upon this hypothesis, can they 
account for the purity of the coal? Currents of 
water of sufficient force to scoop out basins in the 
earth, and drift together such large quantities of 
21* 



490 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

trees and other woody substances to form these 
immense coal-beds, would have carried along with 
them fragments of rocks, gravels, sand, and mud, 
and made of all a mere conglomerated mass. But 
how happens it, then, that coal is free from these 
foreign substances ? It is pure, with the exception 
of some small portions, which are adulterated with 
sulphur and iron : no clay, no sand, mud, or 
gravel. The theory can never explain away this 
objection. But they tell us that they have caught 
Nature at her pranks in her own work-shop ; that 
some of her materials were only half made up; 
and they have discovered what kind of material 
she was at work upon — that it was actually wood 
— for they have seen in coal-mines sticks-, and 
even trees, or parts of trees, partly wood or lig- 
nite, and partly converted into coal! But are they 
certain that it was of any kind of wood that ever 
grew upon the surface? However closely it may 
resemble it, still it may not be really wood, in the 
common acceptation of the term. It may be lig- 
nite, or kind of wood of a subterraneous character, 
and not the kind which grows, or ever did grow, 
upon the surface. Things under ground, in more 
cases than one, resemble things above ground. 
Some of the metallic ores are kidney-shaped, but 
they are not kidneys. Some are dentritic, but 
they are not teeth. Others are arborescent, but 
they are not trees. This singularly interesting 



MISCELLANEOUS. 491 

but grand mimicry is seen in all the departments 
of Nature. It is discovered in the resemblance 
of some of the creatures in the sea to those upon 
land; of those that fly in the air to those that 
move only upon the ground ; also between animals 
of the same department in the seas, in the air, and 
upon the land. On the latter, the ass resembles 
the horse, but an ass is not a horse ; and some of 
the monkey genus resembles man, but still a monkey 
is not a man. So neither may the lignite found 
in coal-mines be really wood. These resemblances 
serve to show the connection between all the mys- 
terious works of the great Creator of all, from 
dead matter up to man, the representative of both 
earth and heaven, and the climacteric of the six 
days' work of God. 

Scientists are welcome to their world-making 
theories, provided only they do not too rashly 
interfere with our religion. We love natural sci- 
ence, too, but not that empirical science which 
imperatively challenges our belief without sufficient 
testimony. By scientific research many facts of 
great practical utility have been developed, and 
doubtless others will be in process of time. But 
when men go off at a tangent from their destined 
orbit, and stray away into the interminable fields 
of vain speculation, growing wise above what is 
written, and in their visionary notions show a 
desire to destroy the validity of the divine records, 



492 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

it is time to call them home, and require them to 
explain the essential nature of the several kinds 
of attraction, and why and how they act ; to solve 
the mystery of the union of soul and body; in 
what way the will acts upon the muscular system. 
Poor souls ! We cannot tell why the magnet at 
one pole attracts and at the other repels. We 
cannot tell what light or life is. and, although we 
have been eating all our lives, were it to save our 
lives we could not explain nutrition, the singular 
process by which dead matter taken into the stomach 
is transmuted into living flesh, muscle, bone, and 
sinew, and many other things near home which 
our philosophy has never dreamed of. Alas for us, 
how little we know ! When our visionary wiselings 
are able to solve the scores of mysteries which 
lie concealed in their own physical and spiritual 
being, and close around in their immediate neigh- 
borhood, then we may listen to their curious theo- 
ries of world-making. 

The sound men of sound science are a great 
blessing to mankind, but unsound men of false 
science are a curse to the world. Supposing the 
latter should succeed — which they never can — in 
destroying the credibility of the Bible, what then? 
Will they give mankind a substitute? If so, what 
is it? Mohammedanism? Paganism? or the philo- 
sophy of Voltaire, Diderot, and their associates ? 
ALis for the nations which are under the accursed 



MISCELLANEOUS. 493 

sway of the two former, and for miserable France, 
which quaffed largely at the polluted and poison- 
ous fountain of Voltaire's infidelity! 

After all, why not take the Book of Genesis as 
our guide concerning the origin of our earth? 
Why may not the Almighty Creator have formed 
the great strata of rocks, the mines of silver and 
gold and precious stones, all the metallic ores, the 
soil of the earth with all its appendages and gar- 
nishings, and fitted it up as a suitable abode for all 
its living inhabitants, in accordance with the account 
given by Moses in Genesis ? This book is the 
most ancient record in the world. It informs us 
that, in the beginning, God created the heaven 
and the earth. Men may place this beginning just 
where they please. This is a question about which 
we have but little concern. We believe the words 
of divine inspiration, and that is a finality. We 
take the Bible as truly the book of books, as con- 
taining the only reliable history of the earlier ages 
of mankind — a history brief indeed, but wonder- 
fully minute in detail. It teaches all the necessary 
knowledge of God, of ourselves, of the duties we 
owe to God and to our fellow-men. It enlightens us 
in regard to the introduction of sin into the world, 
and unfolds the plan by which sin may be par- 
doned, the soul cleansed from moral pollution, and 
qualified for eternal happiness in heaven. And 
while it denounces all manner of vice, it affords 



494 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

the strongest incentives to virtue. It presents 
the surest support under all the trials, afflictions, 
and ills of life, and in death it furnishes the buoy- 
ant hope of heaven and a happy and glorious im- 
mortality. The Bible first, the Bible last, the 
Bible forever. Amen. 

Church Discipline. 

In the first ages of the world men were gov- 
erned by the heads of families. This kind of gov- 
ernment was called patriarchal, because the father 
was at the head of it. This certainly was a fit 
type of the government of God, who is the great 
Father of all mankind. 

Every well-regulated family has its government, 
and its disciplinary rules or laws are carried into 
practical operation. A family or a nation without 
such laws is in a state of anarchy or confusion. 
Such would be the case with the Church, God's 
spiritual family on earth, without discipline. 

The rules by which the Church is to be gov- 
erned are laid down in the New Testament. Dur- 
ing the Mosaic dispensation, when the Jews were 
under the theocracy — the government appointed 
by God himself, of which he was both legislator 
and head — the ordinances and laws were quite 
numerous. This was necessarily the case, since 
both their ecclesiastical and civil polity were com- 
prehended under those laws. But since that dis- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 495 

pensation has passed away, with all the laws per- 
taining to the temple-service, giving place to the 
gospel institution, the laws of the latter, for reg- 
ulating the affairs of God's spiritual household, 
are few and quite simple in their nature, though 
of the utmost importance. These rules of disci- 
pline embrace but few special cases, and are easily 
understood. If you know that your brother has 
aught against you, go and be reconciled with him ; 
or if your brother has trespassed against you, go 
and tell him his fault. If he repent, forgive him. 
If he will not hear you, take others with you. If 
he will not hear them, then tell it to the Church ; 
but, if he still remain incorrigible, he must be cast 
out. 

The rule respecting public offenders and heretics, 
or teachers of false doctrine, and, I think, the ad- 
monition of the apostle in regard to the Church 
assembling together for public worship, to hear 
the gospel and attend to its ordinances, should 
also be disciplinary. These rules, with, perhaps, 
a few others, constitute the code of laws for the 
good order, peace, and prosperity of the Church 
of God. 

Most of the Christian denominations have these 
rules drawn from the Bible, and laid down in a 
book, sometimes called a Discipline, which usually 
prescribes the method of proceeding against an 
offending member, how he is to be brought to 



496 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

trial, and the introduction of testimony for or 
against him. 

As in the civil government, so in the Church — 
laws, however good, unless they are faithfully 
executed, are but a dead letter. Crime goes un- 
punished, the government, either of Church or 
State, is dishonored, and society suffers in all its 
vital interests. 

According to ecclesiastical history, whenever 
there was a decline of vital godliness, there was a 
corresponding decline in the administration of 
Church discipline; and vice versa, if discipline is 
neglected, there is a decline in religion. A low 
state of piety produces laxity in discipline, and 
the neglect of the latter brings about the former. 
In this they operate respectively, both as the 
cause and the effect. They go hand in hand, and 
if at the present day there is a manifest laxity 
upon the part of the Church in the enforcement 
of her discipline, it is an infallible sign of a decay 
of vital religion. Consider this a little. Do not 
many who have a name in the Church live in the 
habitual neglect of their religious duties? How 
many, from year's end to year's end, seldom attend 
Church? Are there not some who violate the 
Sabbath, visiting about in the neighborhood, instead 
of going to Church to hear the gospel and attend 
to its ordinances? Do not many go to theaters, 
dancing parties, play cards for amusement, and 



MISCELLANEOUS. 497 

visit the dram-shops and drink to intoxication ? and 
are not the perpetrators of these sins suffered, in 
many cases, to go unrebuked, to the no little scan- 
dal of the cause of Christ? Where are the officers 
of the Church, whose business it is to watch over 
her spiritual interests? Where are the ministers 
of Christ's pure religion, the Ruling Elders, and 
the executors of discipline in the house of God, 
by whatever name they may be called ? It is their 
duty to exercise discipline, not as lords over God's 
heritage, but in tenderness and love, looking to 
the spiritual welfare of those of their charge, the 
credit and prosperity of religion, the honor and 
glory of their divine Lord and Master. To what 
a solemn account will these rulers in the Church 
be held in the great day ! What a terrible calam- 
ity befell the house of old Eli, the priest, because 
"he knew the sins of his sons and did not restrain 
them" (1 Sam.iii. 13), and upon the people of Judah 
for healing the hurt of the daughter of God's peo- 
ple slightly, saying, "Peace, peace, w T hen there 
was no peace." (Jer. vi. 14.) The officers of the 
Ohurch are the appointed guardians of the peace, 
purity, and prosperity of the Church of Christ, 
and shall they fail in the exercise of wholesome 
discipline, suffering the garden of the Lord to be 
polluted and overrun with briers and noxious 
weeds, and thus prove recreant to their sacred 
trust? When discipline is neglected virtue weeps, 



498 MEDIUM THEOLOGY. 

religion mourns, Christ is wounded in the house 
of his friends, his enemies rejoice, sinners are hard- 
ened and grow bold in iniquity. But, upon the 
other hand, when the officers of the Church, in 
the spirit of meekness and love, perform their 
duty in advising, admonishing, rebuking, or sus- 
pending, as the case may require, wayward or 
unruly members of the Church, then is the body 
of Christ edified — then it stands forth a pillar of 
light, and is truly "the light of the world." The 
line dividing between the Church and the world 
is clearly marked; the scandals occasioned by un- 
guarded (sometimes spurious) members of the 
Church are wiped off, and are not left as blots 
upon her fair escutcheon. 

Those who bear rule in the Church should often 
meet to consult and advise respecting the spiritual 
condition of those who are under their charge — 
otherwise they will be ignorant of what is needed 
— and faithfully, by the help of God, discharging 
their duty, they shall at last joyfully hear, "Well 
done, good and faithful servant." 



THE END. 



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